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VARRONIANUS: 



CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 



PHILOLOGICAL STUDY 



THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 



™y 



REV. JOHN WILLIAM DONALDSON, M.A. 

F.R.A.S., F.R.G.S., F.P.S. ; 
HEAD MASTER OF THE ROYAL SCHOOL, BURY ST. EDMUNDS ; 

AND LATE 

FELLOW, ASSISTANT TUTOR, AND CLASSICAL LECTURER 
OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 



Licet omnia Italica pro Romanis habeam. 



Quintil. 




CAMBRIDGE : 
J. AND J. J. DEIGHTON; 

LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS, LONDON; J. H. PARKER, 
OXFORD; AND J. A. G. WEIGEL, LEIPSIG. 



MDCCCXLIV. 



-./.' ■■";■ 



-TV 



. .; - 



THE RIGHT REVEREND 

CONNOP THIRLWALL, D.D. 

LORD BISHOP OF ST. DAVIDS, 

PRESIDENT OF THE PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 

ETC. ETC. 



If I had only public reasons for prefixing your 
Lordship's name to this work, I should not have much difficulty 
in justifying my dedication. Your position in the first rank of 
English scholars, your profound and original researches in the 
highest departments of philology, and, above all, the share which 
you have had in rendering the great work of Niebuhr accessible 
to the English student, might well exact such a tribute of respect 
from any labourer in the same field. But while I express the 
admiration which I have always felt for your genius and learn- 
ing, I wish also to take this opportunity of recording some of the 
most pleasing recollections connected with my residence within 
the walls of Trinity College, Cambridge. There is no period of 
that residence to which I do not revert with affection and grati- 
tude, and my warmest acknowledgments are due to many whom 
I had the happiness to know there. But of all the advan- 
tages which I enjoyed at Cambridge, there is no one which I 
estimate more highly than this — that I was among those who 
were permitted, some ten or twelve years ago, to attend the 
crowded lecture-room in which your Lordship first taught the 
students of the College to understand and appreciate the philo- 



VI DEDICATION. 

sophy of Aristotle. These lectures, combined with the influence 
which your Lordship possessed among the more intellectual and 
cultivated members of the College, produced a normal effect of 
the utmost importance, by which many have benefited. My 
own share in this benefit I would gladly acknowledge ; and I 
am sure I cannot prize too highly the opportunity by which I was 
allowed to profit. The philological student travels along a road 
with many turnings which all end in nothing, or worse ; and 
he has great reason to be thankful, if, at an early part of his 
career, he meets with a guide who is both willing and able to 
point out to him the straight and steep and narrow road which 
leads to the temple of truth. My personal acquaintance with 
your Lordship has been inconsiderable ; but, though I may re- 
gret this circumstance on my own account, it will not, I conceive, 
detract from this testimony to the merits and efficacy of your 
public teaching. 

In this spirit, and writing as a philologer to a philologer, 
I have presumed to request your acceptance of the present 
work ; and I cannot form a more ambitious hope, than that it 
may succeed in obtaining your Lordship's approbation. 



I have the honour to be, 
My Lord, 
Your Lordship's faithful servant, 

J. W. DONALDSON. 



PREFACE. 



No person who is conversant with the subject will 
venture to assert that Latin scholarship is at pre- 
sent flourishing in England. On the contrary, it 
must be admitted that, while we have lost that 
practical familiarity with the Latin language which 
was possessed some forty years ago by every Eng- 
lishman with any pretensions to scholarship, we 
have not supplied the deficiency by making our- 
selves acquainted with the results of modern phi- 
lology, so far as they have been brought to bear 
upon the language and literature of ancient Rome. 
The same impulse which has increased and ex- 
tended our knowledge of Greek has checked and 
impoverished our Latinity. The discovery that 
the Greek is, after all, an easier language than the 
Latin, and that it may be learned without the aid 
of its sister idiom, while it has certainly enabled 
many to penetrate into the arcana of Greek criti- 
cism who must otherwise have stopt at the thresh- 
old, has at the same time prevented many from 



facing the difficulties which surround the less at- 
tractive literature of Rome, and, by removing one 
reason for learning Latin, has induced the student 
to overlook the other and higher considerations 
which must always confer upon this language its 
value, its importance, and its dignity. 

A return to the Latin scholarship of our ances- 
tors can only be effected by a revival of certain 
old-fashioned methods and usages, which have 
been abandoned, perhaps more hastily than wisely, 
in favour of new habits and new theories. No 
arguments can make it fashionable for scholars 
to clothe their thoughts in a classic garb : exam- 
ple will do more than precept ; and when some 
English philologer of sufficient authority shall ac- 
quire and exert the faculty of writing Latin with 
terse and simple elegance, he will not want imita- 
tors and followers. With regard, however, to our 
ignorance of modern Latin philology, it must be 
owned that our younger students have at least 
one excuse — namely, that they have no manual 
of instruction ; no means of learning what has 
been done and is still doing in the higher depart- 
ments of Italian philology ; and if we may judge 
from the want of information on these subjects 
which is so frequently conspicuous in the works of 
our learned authors, our literary travellers, and our 
classical commentators, this deficiency is deeply 



rooted, and has been long and sensibly felt. Even 
those among us who have access to the stores of 
German literature, would seek in vain for a single 
book which might serve as the groundwork of 
their studies in this department. The most com- 
prehensive Roman histories, and the most elabo- 
rate Latin grammars, do not satisfy the curiosity 
of the inquisitive student ; and though there is 
already before the world a great mass of mate- 
rials, these are scattered through the voluminous 
works of German and Italian scholars, and are, 
therefore, of little use to him who is not prepared 
to select for himself what is really valuable, and to 
throw aside the crude speculations and vague con- 
jectures by which such researches are too often 
encumbered and deformed. 

These considerations, and the advice of some 
friends, who have supposed that I might not be 
unprepared for such an office, have induced me 
to undertake the work which is now presented 
to the English student. How far I have accom- 
plished my design must be left to the judgment of 
others. It has been my wish to produce, within 
as short a compass as possible, a complete and 
systematic treatise on the origin of the Romans, 
and the structure and affinities of their language, 
— a work which, while it might be practically 
useful to the intelligent and educated traveller in 



Italy, no less than to the reader of Niebuhr and 
Arnold, might at the same time furnish a few 
specimens and samples of those deeper researches, 
the full prosecution of which is reserved for a 
chosen few. 

The most cursory inspection of the table of 
contents will shew what is the plan of the book, 
and what information it professes to give. Most 
earnestly do I hope that it may contribute in 
some degree to awaken among my countrymen 
a more thoughtful and manly spirit of Latin phi- 
lology. In proportion as it effects this object, I 
shall feel myself excused in having thus ventured 
to commit to a distant press a work necessarily 
composed amid the distractions and interruptions 
of a laborious and engrossing profession. 

J. W. D. 

The School Hall, Bury St. Edmunds, 
25th March. 1844. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES CONSIDERED AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 

SECT. PAGE 

1. Elements of the population of Rome 1 

2. The Latins — a composite tribe 2 

3. The Oscans, &c 3 

4. Alba and Lavinium 4 

5. The Sabines — how related to the Umbrians and Oscans . . 5 

6. The Umbrians — their ancient greatness ..... 7 

7. Reduced to insignificance by Pelasgian invaders .... 8 

8. The Pelasgians — the differences of their position in Italy and 

Greece respectively . . , 9 

9. They preserve their national integrity in Etruria . . . .10 

10. The Etruscans — the theory of Lepsius, respecting their Pelasgian 

origin, adopted and confirmed ....... 10 

11. Meaning and ethnical extent of the name " Tyrrhenian" . . 11 

12. " Rasena" only a corruption of the original form of this name . 13 

13. The Etruscan language — a mixture of Pelasgian and Umbrian ; the 

latter prevailing more in the country, the former in the towns 16, 18 

14. The Pelasgian origin of the Etruscans further confirmed by the tra- 

ditionary history of the Luceres . . . . . .19 

15. Conclusion 22 



CHAPTER II. 

THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 

1. Etymology of the word Tle\a<ry6s 23 

2. How the Pelasgians came into Europe 25 

3. Thracians, Getae, and Scythians 27 

4. Scythians and Medes 28 



Xll CONTENTS. 

SECT. PAGE 

5. Iranian origin of the Sarmatians, Scythians, and Getse, may be 

shewn (1) generally, and (2) by an examination of the remains 

of the Scythian language 28, 30 

6. The Scythians of Herodotus were members of the Sclavonian family . 30 

7. Peculiarities of the Scythian language suggested by Aristophanes . 31 

8. Names of the Scythian rivers derived and explained . . .32 

9. Names of the Scythian divinities 35 

10. Other Scythian words explained ....... 38 

1 1. Successive peopling of Asia and Europe : fate of the Mongolian race . 40 

12. The Pelasgians were of Sclavonian origin . . . . .41 

13. Foreign affinities of the Umbrians, &c 42 

14. Reasons for believing that they were the same race as the Lithu- 

anians ........... 42 

15. Further confirmation from etymology 44 

16. Celtic tribes intermixed with the Sclavonians and Lithuanians . 45 

17. The Sarmatse probably a branch of the Lithuanian family . . 45 



CHAPTER III. 

THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE AS EXHIBITED IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. 

1. The Eugubine Tables 47 

2. Peculiarities by which the old Italian alphabets were distinguished . 48 

3. The sibilants 49 

4. Some remarks on the other letters ...... 52 

5. Umbrian grammatical forms . . . . . . . .53 

6. Selections from the Eugubine Tables, with explanations : Tab I. a, 1 . 56 

7. Tab. I. a, 2-6 58 

8. Tab. I. b, 13, sqq. ......... 63 

9. Extracts from the Litany in Tab. VI. a. 65 

10. Umbrian words which approximate to their Latin synonymes . . 67 

11. The Todi inscription contains four words of the same class • . 69 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 

1 . The remains of the Oscan language must be considered as Sabellian 

also 72 

2. Alphabetical list of Sabello-Oscan words, with their interpretation . 74 

3. The Bantine Table 86 

4. Commentary on the Bantine Table 89 

5. The " Atellans " . . . 97 



CONTENTS. Xlll 

CHAPTER V. 

THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 

SECT. PAGE 

1. Transcriptions of proper names the first clue to an interpretation of 

the Etruscan language 101 

2. Names of Etruscan divinities derived and explained . . .104 

3. Alphabetical list of Etruscan words interpreted . . . .113 

4. Etruscan inscriptions — difficulties attending their interpretation . 125 

5. Inscriptions in which the Pelasgian element predominates . .126 

6. The great Perugian inscription analysed . . . . .130 

7. General reflections . . . . . . . . .135 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE OLD ROMAN OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 

1. Fragments of old Latin not very numerous . . . . .137 

2. Arvalian Litany 138 

3. Chants preserved by Cato 140 

4. Fragments of Saltan hymns 141 

5. Old regal laws .......... 145 

6. Remains of the XII. Tables . . 148 

7. Table I. .... 149 

8. Table II 151 

9. Table III . 154 

10. Table IV 155 

11. Table V. . 156 

12. Table VI. 157 

13. Table VII. 159 

14. Table VIII. ........... 162 

15. Table IX. . . .166 

16. Table X. 167 

17. Table XI 169 

18. Table XII 169 

19. The Tiburtine inscription ........ 169 

20. The epitaphs of the Scipios 171 

21. The Columna Rostrata . . . . . . . . 178 

22. The Silian and Papirian laws 179 

23. The Senatus- Consultum de Bacchanalibus ..... 182 

24. The old Roman law on the Bantine Table . . . . .184 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VII. 

ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 

SECT - PAGE 

1. Organic classification of the original Latin alphabet . . .188 

2. The labials 189 

3. The gutturals ] qq 

4. The dentals 205 

5. The vowels ........... 210 

6. The Greek letters used by the Romans 217 

7. The numeral signs 223 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 

1 . Completeness of the Latin case-system ...... 226 

2. General scheme of the case-endings ...... 227 

3. Latin declensions .......... 227 

4. Hypothetical forms of the nominative and accusative plural . . 229 

5. Existing forms — the genitive and dative 231 

6. The accusative and ablative ........ 234 

7. The vocative and the neuter forms 236 

8. Adverbs considered as cases of nouns ...... 238 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 

1. The Latin verb generally defective 244 

2. The personal inflexions — their consistent anomalies . . . 244 

3. Doctrine of the Latin tenses ........ 246 

4. The substantive verbs ......... 248 

5. Verbs which may be regarded as parathetic compounds . . . 251 

6. Tenses of the vowel-verbs which are combinations of the same kind . 252 

7. Organic derivation of the tenses in the consonant-verb . . . 254 

8. Auxiliary tenses of the passive voice ...... 254 

9. The modal distinctions — their syntax ...... 255 

10. Forms of the infinitive and participle — how connected in deriva- 

tion and meaning ......... 259 

11. The gerundium and gerundivum shewn to be active and present . 260 

12. The participle in -urus 264 

13. The past tense of the infinitive active 264 

1 4. Differences of conjugation 265 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER X. 



CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 

SECT. PAGE 

1 . Genius of the Latin language ....... 269 

2. Abbreviations observable in the written forms .... 270 

3. Ancient testimonies to the difference between the spoken and the 

written language . . .273 

4. The poetry of the Augustan age does not represent the genuine 

Latin pronunciation 275 

5. Which is rather to be derived from an examination of the comic 

metres ............ 270 

6. The French language is the best modern representative of the spoken 

Latin 280 

7. The modern Italian not equally so ; and why .... 283 

8. Different dialects of the French language 284 

9. But all these dialects were closely related to the Latin . . . 287 

10. Leading distinctions between the Roman and Romance idioms . 289 

11. Importance and value of the Latin language . . . . .291 



VARRONIANUS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES CONSIDERED AS RELATED TO 
EACH OTHER. 

§ 1. Elements of the population of Rome. § 2. The Latins — a composite 
tribe. § 3. The Oscans, &c. § 4. Alba and Lavinium. § 5. The Sa- 
bines — how related to the Umbrians and Oscans. § 6. The Umbrians 
— their ancient greatness. § 7. Reduced to insignificance by Pelasgian 
invaders. § 8. The Pelasgians — the differences of their position in 
Italy and Greece respectively. § 9. They preserve their national integrity 
in Etruria. § 10. The Etruscans — the theory of Lepsius, respecting 
their Pelasgian origin, adopted and confirmed. § 11. Meaning and eth- 
nical extent of the name " Tyrrhenian." § 12. " Rasena" only a cor- 
ruption of the original form of this name. § 13. The Etruscan language 
— a mixture of Pelasgian and Umbrian, the latter prevailing more in the 
country, the former in the towns. § 14. The Pelasgian origin of the 
Etruscans further confirmed by the traditionary history of the Luceres. 
§ 15. Conclusion. 

The sum of all that is known of the earliest history of 
Rome is comprised in the following enumeration of par- 
ticulars. A tribe of Latin origin, more or less connected 
with Alba, settled on the Palatine hill, and in the process 
of time united itself, by the right of intermarriage and 
other ties, with a band of Sabine warriors, who had taken 
up their abode on the Quirinal and Capitoline hills. These 
two towns admitted into fellowship with themselves a third 
community, established on the Caelian and Esquiline hills, 



% THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [Ch. I. 

which seems to have consisted of Pelasgians, either from 
the Solonian plain, lying between Rome and Lavinium, or 
from the opposite side of the river near Caere ; and the 
whole body became one city, governed by a king, or ma- 
gister populi, and a senate ; the latter being the represen- 
tatives of the three original elements of the state, — the 
Latin or Oscan Ramnes, the Sabine Titienses or Quirites, 
and the Pelasgian Luceres. It appears, moreover, that the 
Etruscans, on the other side of the Tiber, eventually influ- 
enced the destinies of Rome in no slight degree, and the 
last three kings mentioned in the legendary traditions were 
of Etruscan origin. In other words, Rome was, during the 
period referred to by their reigns, subjected to a powerful 
Etruscan dynasty, from the tyranny of which it had, on 
two occasions, the good fortune to escape. What Servius 
planned was for the most part carried into effect by the 
consular constitution, which followed the expulsion of the 
last Tarquinius. 

As these facts are established by satisfactory evidence, 
and as we have nothing else on which we can depend with 
certainty, it follows that in order to investigate the ethnical 
affinities of the Roman people, and the origin and growth 
of their language, we must in the first instance inquire 
who were the Latins, the Sabines, the Pelasgians, and the 
Etruscans, and what were their relations one with another. 
After this we shall be able with greater accuracy to ex- 
amine their respective connexions with the several elements 
in the original population of Europe. 



THE LATINS. 

§ 2. The investigations of Niebuhr and others have made 

The Latins— it sufficiently certain that the Pelasgians formed a very 

a composite . ° 

tribe. important element in the population of ancient Latium. 

This appears not merely from the primitive traditions, but 



§ 3.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 3 

also, and more strongly, from the mythology, language, 
and architecture of the country. It has likewise been 
proved that this Pelasgian population was at an early 
period partially conquered by a tribe of mountaineers, 
who are called Oscans, and who descended on Latium from 
the basins of the Nar and the Velinus. The influence of 
these foreign invaders was most sensibly and durably felt 
in the language of the country ; which in its earliest form 
presents phenomena not unlike those which have marked 
the idiom spoken in this country since the Norman con- 
quest. The words relating to husbandry and peaceful life 
are Pelasgian, and the terms of war and the chase are 
Oscan. 1 

As it is this foreign element which forms the distinc- 
tion between the Latins and the Pelasgians, let us in the 
first place inquire into the origin and affinities of these 
Oscan conquerors, in order that we may more easily dis- 
entangle the complexities of the subject. 



The Oscans were known at different times and in dif- § 3. 

The Oscans, 



ferent places under the various names of Opicans, Opscans, 
Ausonians, and Auruncans. The primary denomination 
was Op-icus, derived from Ops or Opis, the Italian name 
of the goddess Earth ; and these people were therefore, in 
accordance with their name, the Autochthones, or aborigi- 
nal inhabitants of the district where they are first found. 
The other denominations are derived from the same word, 
Op-s, by the addition of the endings -si-cus, -sunus, and 

1 Niebuhr, H. R. i. p. 82. Miiller, Etrusker, i. p. 17. This observation 
must not be pressed too far; for it does not in fact amount to more than 
prima facie evidence. The Opican or Oscan language belongs to the Indo- 
Germanic family no less than the Pelasgian; the latter, however, was one 
ingredient in the language of ancient Greece, and it does not appear that any 
Hellenic tribes were connected with the Oscans ; consequently it is fair to 
say that, as one element in the Latin language resembles the Greek, while 
the other does not, the Grsecising element is Pelasgian. 



&c. 



4 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [Ch. I. 

-sun-icus. The labial is absorbed in Oscus and Avacov, 
and the s has become r, according to the regular process, 
in Auruncus. 1 

These aboriginal tribes, having been in the first in- 
stance, like the Arcadians in the Peloponnese, driven by 
their invaders, the Pelasgians, into the mountain fastnesses 
of the Apennines, at length descended from the interior on 
both sides, and conquered the people of the plains and the 
coast. One tribe, the Ap-uli, subdued the Daunians and 
other tribes settled in the south-east, and gave their name 
to the country ; they also extended themselves to the west, 
and became masters of the country from the bay of Ter- 
racina upwards to the Tiber. In this district they bore 
the well-known names of Volsci (=Apulisici) and AEqui 
(comp. tWo?, equus, &c), names still connected with the 
primary designation of the aborigines. 

A more important invasion was that which was occa- 
sioned by the pressure of the Sabines on an Oscan people 
settled in the mountains between Reate and the Fucine 
lake. These invaders came down the Anio, and conquered 
the Pelasgians of northern Latium. Their chief seat in 
the conquered country seems to have been Alba, the Alp- 
ine or mountain city, where they dwelt under the name of 
Prisci Latini, " ancient Latins ;" being also called Casci, a 
name which denotes " ancient" or "well-born," and which, 
like the connected Greek term x ao h implies that they 
were a nation of warriors (TV. Crat. p. 403). 

§ 4. The district of Latium, when history first speaks of it, 

was thus occupied by two races ; one a mixed people of 
Oscan conquerors living in the midst of the Pelasgians 
whom they had subdued, the other a Pelasgian nation 
not yet conquered by the invaders. These two nations 

1 See Niebuhr, i. 69, note. Buttmann, Lexilogus, i. p. 68, note 1 (p. 154, 
Fishlake). 



Alba and La- 
vinium. 



§ 5.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 5 

formed at first two distinct confederacies: of the former 
Alba was the head, while the place of congress for the 
latter was Lavinium. At the latter place, the Penates, or 
old Pelasgian Cabeiri, were worshipped; and even after 
the Pelasgian league was broken up by the power of Alba, 
and when Alba became the capital of the united nation of 
the Latins and sent a colony to Lavinium, the religious 
sanctity of the place was still maintained, the Penates 
were still worshipped there, and deputies still met in the 
temple of Venus. The influence of Alba was, however, 
so great, that even after its fall, when the Pelasgian Latins 
partially recovered their independence, there remained a 
large admixture of foreign elements in the whole popula- 
tion of Latium, and that which was purely Pelasgian in 
their character and institutions became gradually less and 
less perceptible, till nothing remained on the south of the 
Tiber which could claim exemption from the predominating 
influence of the Oscans. 

That the name Lavinium is only a dialectical variety of 
Latinium has long been admitted. The original form of 
the name Latinus, which afterwards furnished a denomina- 
tion for the language of the civilised world, was Latvinus ; 
and while the Pelasgian Latins preserved the labial only, 
the mixed people retained only the dental. The same has 
been the case in the Pelasgian forms, liber, libra, bis, ruber, 
&c, compared with their Hellenic equivalents, i-XevOepos, 
\irpa, 6Y<?, e-pvdpos, See. 

THE SABINES. 

It has been mentioned that the Sabines dispossessed § 5. 

the Oscans, and compelled them to invade Latium. Our _^ ^^ted 
next point is, therefore, to consider the relation in which to the Umbri- 

ans and Os- 

the Sabines stood to the circumjacent tribes. cans. 

The original abode of these Sabines was, according to 



6 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [Ch. I. 

Cato, 1 about Amiternum, in the higher Apennines. Issu- 
ing from this lofty region, they drove the Umbrians before 
them on one side and the Oscans on the other, and so 
took possession of the district which for so many years was 
known by their name. 

It will not be necessary in this place to point out the 
successive steps by which the Sabine colonies made them- 
selves masters of the whole south and east of Italy, nor to 
shew how they settled on two of the hills of Rome. It 
is clear, on every account, that they were not Pelasgians ; 
and our principal object is to inquire how they stood 
related to the Umbrians and Oscans, on whom they more 
immediately pressed. 

Niebuhr thinks it not improbable that the Sabines and 
Oscans were only branches of one stock, and mentions 
many reasons for supposing so. 2 It appears, however, 
that there are still stronger reasons for concluding that the 
Sabines were an offshoot of the Umbrian race. This is 
established not only by the testimony of Zenodotus of 
Trcezen, 3 who wrote upon the Umbrians, but also by the 
resemblances of the Sabine and Umbrian languages, 4 It 
is true that this last remark may be made also with regard 
to the Sabine and Oscan idioms •? for many words which 
are quoted as Sabine are likewise Oscan. 5 The most plau- 
sible theory is, that the Sabines were Umbrians, who were 
separated from the rest of their nation, and driven into the 
high Apennines, by the Pelasgians of the north-east ; but 
that, after an interval, they in their turn assumed an offen- 
sive position, and descending from their highlands, under 
the name of Sabini, or " worshippers of Sabus the son of 
Sancus," 6 attacked their Umbrian brethren on the one 

1 Quoted by Dionys. i. 14, p. 40 ; ii. 49, p. 338. Reiske. 

2 Hist. Rome, i. p. 103. 3 Apud Dionys. ii. 49, p. 337. 
4 Servius ad Virg. JEn. iii. 235. 5 Niebuhr, ubi supra. 

r ' That this Sancus was an Umbrian deity is clear from the Eugubine 



§ 6.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 7 

side, and the Oscan Latins on the other. At length, how- 
ever, they sent out so many colonies to the south, among 
the Oscan nations, that their Umbrian affinities were almost 
forgotten ; and the Sabellian tribes, especially the Sam- 
nites, were regarded as members of the Oscan family, from 
having adopted to a considerable extent the language of 
the conquered tribes among whom they dwelt. 

The Umbrians are always mentioned as one of the § 6. 

most ancient nations of Italy. 1 Though restricted in the _4eirancient 
historical ages to the left bank of the Tiber, it is clear that greatness. 
in ancient times they occupied the entire northern half of 
the peninsula, from the Tiber to the Po. Their name, 
according to the Greek etymology, implied that they had 
existed before the great rain-floods which had destroyed 
many an earlier race of men. 2 Cato said that their city 
Ameria was founded 381 years before Rome. 3 All that 
we read about them implies that they were a great, a 
genuine, and an ancient nation. 4 There are distinct tradi- 
tions to prove that the country, afterwards called Etruria, 
was originally in the occupation of the Umbrians. The 
name of the primitive occupants of that country was pre- 
served by the Tuscan river Umbro, and the tract of land 
through which it flowed into the sea was to the last called 

Tables. Indeed, both sabus and sancus, in the old languages of Italy, sig- 
nified " sacred" or " revered," and were probably epithets regularly applied 
to the deity. In the Eugubine Tables we have the word sev-um, meaning 
" reverently" (i. a. 5) ; and Sansius is an epithet of the god Fisus, or Fiso- 
vius (vi. b. 3, 5). Comp. the Latin sev-erus (ceyS-w), and sanctus. Ac- 
cording to this, the name Sabini is nearly equivalent to Sacrani. Tbe Tables 
also mention the picus Martins of the Sabines, from which the Piceni derived 
their name (piquier Martier, v. b. 9, 14) ; comp. Strabo, v. p. 240. 

1 Niebuhr, i. note 430. 

2 See Plin. H. N. iii. 19 : " Umbrorum gens antiquissima Italise existi- 
matur, ut quos Ombrios a Grsecis putent dictos, quod inundatione terrarum 
imbribus superfuissent :" and compare, for the idea, Psalm xxix. 10. 

3 Pliny, iii. 14, 19. 4 Floras, i. 17. Dionys. i. 19. 



8 



THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES 



[Ch. 



Umbria? It is expressly stated that Cortona was once 
Umbrian ; 2 and Camers, the ancient name of Clusium, 3 
points at once to the Camertes, a great Umbrian tribe. 4 
It is certain also that the Umbrians occupied Picenum, till 
they were expelled from that region by their brethren the 
Sabines. 5 



§7. 

Reduced to in- 
significance by 
Pelasgian in- 
vaders. 



Since history, then, exhibits this once great nation 
expelled from the best part of its original possessions, 
driven beyond the Apennines, deprived of all natural bar- 
riers to the north, and reduced to insignificance, we are 
led at once to inquire into the cause of this phenomenon. 
Livy speaks of the Umbrians as dependent allies of the 
Tuscans; 6 and Strabo tells us that the Etruscans and 
Umbrians maintained a stubborn contest for the possession 
of the district between the Apennines and the mouth of 
the Po. 7 The people which thus ruled and strove with 
them in the latter period of their history, when they were 
living within the circumscribed limits of their ultimate 
possessions, was that which deprived them of a national 
existence within the fairest portion of their originally wide 
domains. 

There can be no doubt that the Umbrians were invaded 
and conquered by a stream of Tyrrhenian Pelasgians from 
the north-east. Before we proceed to shew how these 
invaders, combined with the conquered Umbrians, made 
up the great Etrurian nation, it will be convenient to 
examine generally the course of the Pelasgian invasion of 
Italy. 



Pliny, iii. 5 (8). 
Liv. x. 25. 
Pliny, iii. 13, 14. 
P. 216. 



2 Dionys. i. 20. 

4 Liv. ix. 36. 

G In books ix. and x. 



§ 8.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 



THE PELASGIANS. 

Without stopping to inquire at present who the Pelas- § 8. 

gians were out of Italy, let us take them up where they GI f NS _the 

first make their appearance at the mouth of the Po. We gj^jjj 

find that they started from this district, and having crossed in Italy and 

Greece ** ,rtc ' v ^ 
the Apennines, wrested from the Umbrians the great city lively. 

Camers, from whence they carried on war all around. 
Continually pressing towards the south, and, as they ad- 
vanced, conquering the indigenous tribes, or driving them 
up into the highlands, they eventually made themselves 
masters of all the level plains and of the coasts. Though 
afterwards, as we have seen, invaded in their turn, and in 
part conquered by the Oscan aborigines, they were for a 
long time in possession of Latium ; and, under the widely 
diffused name of CEnotrians, they held all the south of 
Italy, till they were conquered or dispossessed by the 
spread of the great Sabellian race. 

To these Pelasgians were due the most important ele- 
ments in the ancient civilisation of Italy. It was not their 
destiny to be exposed throughout their settlements, like 
their brethren in Greece, to the overruling influence of 
ruder and more warlike tribes. This was to a certain 
extent the case in the south; where they were not only 
overborne by the power of their Sabellian conquerors, but 
also Hellenised by the Greek colonies which were at an 
early period established among them. But in Etruria and 
Latium the Pelasgian nationality was never extinguished : 
even among the Latins it survived the severest shocks of 
Oscan invasion. In Etruria it remained to the end the 
one prevailing characteristic of the people ; and Rome 
herself, though she owed her military greatness to the 
Sabellian ingredient in her composition, was, to the days 
of her decline, Pelasgian in all the essentials of her lan- 
guage, her religion, and her law. 



10 



THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES 



[Ch. I. 



§9. 

Preserve their 
national inte- 
grity in Etruria. 



It is easy to see why the Pelasgians retained their 
national integrity on the north-western coast so much 
more perfectly than in the south and east. It was because 
they entered Etruria in a body, and established there the 
bulk of their nation. All their other settlements were of 
the nature of colonies ; and the density of the population, 
and its proportion to the number of the conquered mingled 
with it, varied, of course inversely, with the distance from 
the main body of the people. In Etruria the Pelasgians 
were most thickly settled, and next to Etruria in Latium. 
Consequently, while the Etruscans retained their conquest, 
and compelled the Sabines, the most vigorous of the dis- 
possessed Umbrians, to direct their energies southwards, 
and while the Latins were only partially reconquered by 
the aboriginal tribes, the Pelasgians of the south resigned 
their national existence, and were merged in the concourse 
of Sabellian conquerors and Greek colonists. 

We have here presumed that the Etruscans were Pe- 
lasgians mixed with conquered Umbrians. The next step 
is to prove this. 



THE ETRUSCANS. 

To determine the origin of the Etruscans, and the 
nature of their language, has for many years been con- 
sidered the most difficult problem in philology, This 
enigma, however, seems at last to have been solved by 
Dr. Richard Lepsius, — a worthy pupil of James Grimm 
and Ottfried Miiller, — who has advanced many satisfac- 
tory reasons in favour of his hypothesis, that the Etruscans 
were after all only Tyrrhenians, or Pelasgians, who, invad- 
ing Italy from the north-east, conquered the Umbrians, and 
took possession of the western part of the district formerly 
occupied by that people, but could not protect their own 
language from the modifying influences of the cognate 



§11.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 11 

Umbrian dialect. 1 In support of this theory, which is in 
accordance with the opinions elsewhere expressed 2 respect- 
ing the early population of Italy, and with the results of 
the present work, it may be sufficient to adduce the autho- 
rities and arguments which follow. 

It is clear that the name Tvpprjvo? or Tuparjvos, by § lh 
which the Greeks designated the inhabitants of Etruria, ethnical extent 
is not directly derived from the name of the Lydian city ff^rrhenian " 
Tyrrha, which occurs only once in ancient tradition. 3 On 
the contrary, this Greek word, which is identical with the 
Latin Tuscus (for Tursicus) and Etruscus, and with the 
Umbrian TursJce, has been properly explained, even by 
Dionysius, 4 as referring to the rvpareis or cyclopean forti- 
fications which every where attest the presence of Pelas- 

1 Ueber die Tyrrhenuchen Pelasger in Etrurien. Leipsig, 1842. We 
are indebted to this scholar, who is still, I believe, a young man, for some 
of the most important contributions which Italian philology has ever received. 
In his treatise on the Eugubine Tables, which he published in the year 1833, 
he evinced an extent of knowledge, an accuracy of scholarship, and a ma- 
turity of judgment, such as we rarely meet with even among Germans. His 
collection of Umbrian and Oscan inscriptions (Lipsise, 1841) has supplied 
the greatest want felt by those who are interested in the old languages of 
Italy; and I expect the most fruitful results from those inquiries into the 
Egyptian language in which he is now engaged. Unless I am misinformed, 
Dr. Lepsius has to thank the Chevalier Bunsen for the advantages which 
he has enjoyed in Italy, in France, and in Egypt. James Grimm, in the 
second edition of his Deutsche Mythologie, which has just reached this 
country, has confirmed with his great authority the opinions advocated in the 
text : " Niebuhr (he says, p. 489) halt Tyrrhener und Etrusker von einander, 
wie ich glaube, mit unrecht." 

a N. Crat. p. 89, sqq. 

3 See Miiller, Etrusk. i. pp. 71, 72, 80. It is probable that Tyrrha and 
the whole of Torrhebia were Pelasgian settlements, of the same kind as the 
Larissce in Troas and iEolis. 

4 i. 26 : airb t5>v ipv^druiv, & Trpccroi roov TrjSe oikovvtccv KareffKevdcravTO. 
ripireis yaq Kal irapa Tv$pr\v<ns al eVrej%iot nod areyavul olierjcreLS bvofi&^ovrai, 
wairep irap'"E\\ri(nv. Tzetzes, ad Ly cop fir. 717 : rvp<ris to Telx os > ° Tl Ty P* 
<st\vo\ TTpwrov e<pevpov t))v Tej%o7rot'i'aj'. Comp. Etym. M. s. v. rvpavvos. 



12 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [Ch. I. 

gian tower-builders. The word rvppi? or Tvpais, which 
occurs in Pindar as the name of the great palace of the 
primeval god Saturn, 1 is identical with the Latin turris ; 
and the fact, that the Pelasgians derived their distinguish- 
ing epithet from this word, is remarkable, not only as 
shewing the affinity between the Greek and Latin lan- 
guages on the one hand, and the Pelasgian in Etruria on 
the other hand, but also because these colossal structures 
are always found wherever the Pelasgians make their 
appearance in Greece. Fortresses in Pelasgian countries 
received their designation as often from these rvpo-ei? as 
from the name Larissa, which seems to signify the abode 
of the lars or prince. Thus the old Pelasgian Argos had 
two citadels or aKpoiroXe^, the one called the Larissa, the 
other rb ap>yo$, i. e. the arx. 2 In the neighbourhood, how- 
ever, was the city Tiryns, which is still remarkable for its 
gigantic cyclopean remains, and in the name of which we 
may recognise the word Tvppis ; 3 and not much further on 
the other side was Thyrea, which Pausanias connects with 
the fortified city Thyrceon, 4 in the middle of Pelasgian 
Arcadia ; and further south we have the Messenian Thuria, 
and Thyrides at the foot of Taenaron. Then again, in the 
northern abodes of the Pelasgians, we find Tyrrheum, a 

1 01. ii. 70 : ereiAav Aibs 68bv irapa Kp6vov Tvpaiv. See also Orph. 
Argon. 151: rvpaiv ipvfjivrjs MjA^tojo. Suidas: ivptros, rb ev vitrei ^koSo,utj- 
ixtvov. The word rvpavvos contains the same root : comp. noipavos with /capo, 
and the other analogies pointed out in the New Cratylus, p. 415, sqq. 

2 Liv. xxxiv. 25 : " Utrasque arces, nam duas habent Argi." 

3 According to Theophrastus (apud Plin. vii. 57), the inhabitants of 
Tiryns were the inventors of the ripasis. As early as Homer's time the 
town was called Tetx^ etr<ra (^- "• 559), and its walls are described by Eu- 
ripides (Electr. 1158. Iph. in Aul. 152, 1501. Troad. 1088) as KVK\<iireia 
ovpavia Teixn- The mythological personage Tiryns is called " the son of 
Argos" (Paus. ii. 25), who, according to Steph. Byz., derived his origin 
from Pelasgus, who civilised Arcadia (Pausan. viii. 1), and was the father of 
Larissa (id. vii. 17), and grandfather of Thessalus (Dionys. i. 17). 

4 It was built by Thyrceus, the grandson of Pelasgus (Paus. viii. 3). 



§ 12.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 13 

fortified place not far from the Pelasgian Dodona, and also 
a Tirida in Thrace. 1 At no great distance from the Thes- 
salian Larissa and Argissa lay the Macedonian Tyrissa, a 
name which reminds us of the Spanish Turissa in agro 
Tarraconensi ; 2 and the Tyrrhenica Tarraco, with its mas- 
sive walls, 3 is sufficient to establish the connexion of this 
latter place with the Tyrrhenians. 

One proof of the Italian origin of the name Tyrrhenian 
may be deduced from the existence in Italy of the by -form 
Tursici; and Lepsius agrees with Muller in thinking that 
the Etruscan capital, Tap^viov, Tarkynia, Tarquinii, has 
derived its name from its rvppeis, or Pelasgian walls. 4 It 
appears to me that the original form of the word was 
rather tarch- or track- (comp. rpa^v^, &c.), 5 and that the 
guttural was subsequently assibilated and softened into s, 
according to the regular process. The natural transition 
would be Tpa%-, rap^-, Taper-, rapp-. Consequently, the 
hero Tarchon is to be regarded as the real eponymus of the 
Tyrsenians, — Tyrrhenus, Torrhebus, Tiryns, and Thyrceus, 
being only by-forms of the same name. 

The most important part, however, of the investigations a \(£ 

of Lepsius in this field is his proof of the nonexistence of "Rasena" only 

. a corruption of 

the Rasence, whom JNiebuhr and Muller agree in consider- the original 

ing as the real Etruscans, or the non-Pelasgian conquerors 

of Etruria. He has shewn the utter inadmissibility of the 

reading Kporcova for KprjcrTwva, in the celebrated passage 

of Herodotus, 6 on which Niebuhr and Muller have built 

1 Plin. H. N. iv. 18: " Oppidum quondam Diomedis equorum stabulis 
dirum." 

2 Anton. Itin. 

3 Muller, Etrusker, i. p. 291. Auson. Ep. 24, 88. 

4 Lepsius suggests also, that the Turres on the coast near Caere and 
Alsium may have been a Roman translation of the name TvfyeLs. 

5 Thus Tafipaniva. was anciently written Tpaxiva (Strabo, v. p. 254). 

6 i. 57. The following is the substance of what Herodotus has told us 



form of this 
name. 



14 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [Ch. I. 

so much, and the absolute want of any historical proof that 
the Pelasgians in Etruria were ever interfered with, until 
the Gauls invaded the north of Italy. " We hear," he 
says (p. 22), " of only one Etruscan history. The annals 
and traditions of the Etruscans go back uninterruptedly to 
their Pelasgian origin : and can we conceive that their his- 
tory or tradition should not have preserved some reminis- 
cence of this radical change in the population of the 
country, if it had really taken place ? It is quite unneces- 
sary to prove, that all we hear of the Etruscan organisa- 
tion, and of the art and science of this people, must refer 

respecting the Tyrrhenians and Pelasgians ; and his information, though much 
compressed, is still very valuable. He seems tacitly to draw a distinction 
between the Pelasgians and the Tyrrhenians. With regard to the former he 
relates the Lydian story (i. 94: (petal Se abrol AuSoi), that Atys, son of 
Manes, king of the Mseonians, had two sons, Lydus and Tyrrhenus. Lydus 
remained at home, and gave to the Mseonians the name of Lydians ; whereas 
Tyrrhenus sailed to Umbria with a part of the population, and there founded 
the Tyrrhenian people. In general, Herodotus, when he speaks of the Tyr- 
rhenians, is to be understood as referring to the Etruscans. Of the Pelas- 
gians he says (i. 56, sqq.), that they formed one of the original elements 
of the population of Greece, the division into Dorians and Ionians corre- 
sponding to the opposition of Hellenes to Pelasgians. In the course of his 
travels he had met with pure Pelasgians in Placie and Scylace on the Hel- 
lespont, and also in Creston ; and their language differed so far from the 
Greek that he did not scruple to call it barbarian (c. 57). At the same 
time he seems to have been convinced that the Hellenes owed their greatness 
to their coalition with these barbarous Pelasgians (c. 58). The text of He- 
rodotus is undoubtedly corrupt in this passage ; but the meaning is clear from 
the context. He says, that " the Hellenes having been separated from the 
Pelasgians, being weak and starting from small beginnings, have increased 
in population, principally in consequence of the accession of the Pelasgians 
and many other barbarous tribes." The reading avfrrai is irArjdos tuv 
idvewv iroXXuv is manifestly wrong ; not only because the position of the 
article is inadmissible, but also because &\\a>v iOvicav PapPdpoov avxvuv 
immediately follows. I cannot doubt that we ought to read, avfyrai is 
nArjdos, rwv HeAacrywv jxaXicna Tpo(mex u P'0 K &' roiv avrai koX olWwv iQv4wv fiap- 
fidpow ffvx"^v. The epithet iroWSiv has crept into the text from a marginal 
explanation of avxywv, and ruv iQviwv iroXXuv has consequently taken the 
place of the abbreviation twc nArw [nAAwy] for twv UeAaayuv. 



§ 12.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 15 

to the Tyrrhenian Pelasgians, and not to the Masence, a 
rude people from the Alps ; that the cyclopean architecture, 
the famous signa Tuscanica, the musical skill, the monetary 
system, and even the writing of the Tuscans, is due to 
them; that in the Etruscan discipline, in the Etruscan 
science and literature, in a word, in then* history and my- 
thology, we have an inheritance left by Pelasgians, and 
not by barbarous Rasenae. If so, how did it happen that, 
while the uncultivated northern conquerors exchanged their 
own nationality for these endowments of the subjugated 
Pelasgians, and even assumed their name — that of the 
Tyrrhenians — they nevertheless did not adopt their lan- 
guage, the original vehicle of all mental cultivation, but 
translated the thoughts of a foreign tribe into their own 
barbarous tongue ? It seems to me useless to follow any 
further the consequences to which this hypothesis of a 
Rasenic conquest of the Pelasgic Tyrrhenians must neces- 
sarily lead: thus much will suffice to shew how utterly 
untenable it is." Lastly, we are indebted to this ingenious 
author for a confirmation of the happy conjecture by which 
Lanzi 1 and Cramer 2 had already removed the only diffi- 
culty that might seem to leave a doubt upon the subject. 
After observing that the name 'Paaeva occurs only in a 
single passage of Dionysius — that it is never mentioned 
before or after him, either as a name of the people, or as 
that of an Etruscan hero — and how incredible it is that 
the Roman writers, who so thoroughly investigated the 
subject, should have heard nothing of this name, or the 
tradition on which it rested, — he suggests the probability, 
that the text of Dionysius, 3 which is often faulty, and 



. p. i»y. 

2 Ancient Italy, i. p. 161. It is not a little surprising that this conjec- 
ture should have been either unknown to Niebuhr and Miiller, or unheeded 
by them. 

3 The passage runs thus (i. 30) : uvoixdaOaL 5' v<p' 'EK\i\vwv avrb tt) 



1G THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [Ch. I. 

which iii this very passage has Ovoo-koovs instead of 
Gova/covs, presents us with the erroneous reading 'Pa<reva 
instead of Tapaaeva or Tapaeva; so that the difference 
between the native name of the Tuscans and that by which 
the Greeks and Romans knew them, consisted only in the 
substitution of a for the Greek v and the Roman u. As 
the Greeks called them Tvparjvoi from the hero Tvparjvos, 
they named themselves Tarsence from the hero Tarsena. 
This change from the u to the a is seen in the words 
Tapyonviov, Targuinii, and the Spanish Tarraco ; possibly 
also Tarracina} {Anxur) in Latium, Tarrhce in Sardinia, and 
other words, may be considered as containing the same 
modified root. In this way, the hero Tapaeva becomes 
identical with the Tvpo-rjvo?, Tvpprjvos, of the Greek le- 
gend, 2 and with the Tarchon of the Roman story, and is 
not such a solitary personage as the unknown 'Paaeva. 3 

The difficulty occasioned by the language of the Tus- 
cans is removed by the consideration that it is a mixed 

■jrpoarjyopla Tavry oboev KwKvet, ual Sia ras ev ripaeaiv o'wfjaets /col cbr' 
avSpbs ovvdarov. 'Pw/xaioi /xevroi — 'ErpovaKOvs KaXovaC — irp6repov 8' anpi- 
fiovvres rovvo/xa Sxrirep "EA\7)ves G>vo<tk6ovs (1. Qoihtkovs) iitdAovif avTol ftev 
toi a<pas abrohs airb twv 7)yefj.6vc>>v nvbs 'Pacreva (1. Tapaeva) rbv abrbv itce'ivcc 
Tp6lT0V ovofx.d£ovtri. 

1 According to Strabo, v. p. 254, Tpax'wa was the earlier name of Tapfia- 
Kiva. Terracina is the later pronunciation, resulting perhaps from a wish 
to Latinise the name. Similarly, Veladri was converted into Volaterrce. 

2 The change from Tapaeva into Tvpai}v6s is analogous to the Greek 
change of Porsena into Tlvpat)v6s, Hopa-i]vas, Tlopalvos (as from irvpaSs, irvppds, 
Tlvfip'Ss) ; a change which led Niebuhr into his strange error respecting the 
quantity of the word (see Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome, p. 44). 

3 If it be objected, that the word Rasne (plur. Rasnes) occurs in the 
great Perugian inscription (below, Chap. V.) ; in the first place it may be 
answered, that there is no evidence for identifying this with the ethnic 
designation of the Tuscans ; and if this were necessary, still we might sup- 
pose that 'Paaeva and Rasne were mutilations of Tapaaeva, analogous to 
the Tuscan mi for esmi. As far, however, as I can conjecture the meaning 
of the word Rasne, it has nothing whatever to do with this ethnic name. 



§ 13.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 17 

language — an interpenetration of the Pelasgian and Urn- mixture of Pe- 
brian idioms. The Pelasgians of the Po invaded and umbrian! 
conquered the Umbrians, who remained, however, in their 
own land in subjection to the Pelasgian aristocracy. Al- 
though the Umbrian language, therefore, was in the first 
instance thrown into the background, it could not be alto- 
gether suppressed, but, on the contrary, gradually exerted 
an influence on the language of the victors, which was the 
more sensibly felt, because the Pelasgians were separated 
from their own people, whereas the Umbrians spoke the 
language of the land and that of the surrounding countries. 
The Pelasgian invaders stood in the same relation to the 
Umbrians, as the Normans did to the Saxons after their 
conquest of England. In both cases a more highly civilised 
nation settled, as conquerors and with strong national 
attachments, among a less cultivated race. As the English 
language was formed by an union of the Norman with the 
Anglo-Saxon, so the Etruscan arose from the combination 
of the Pelasgian with the Umbrian. The process of amal- 
gamation in the former case is well known. It did not 
take place at once. Gradually, however, the language of 
the conquered people resumed its place even in the cities. 
The characteristics of this mixed language, as it appeared 
in the towns, was a preponderating number of Norman 
words accommodated to the Saxon grammar, as far as it 
remained. The words were mutilated, lost their termina- 
tions, and were pronounced with the accent thrown back, 
like the Saxon words. The same was the case in Etruria. 
The Umbrians were perhaps even less cultivated in letters 
than the Anglo-Saxons, and the oldest written memorials 
were Pelasgian. But the old language of the country at 
length began to exert a modifying influence on the idiom 
of the conquerors. The accent was thrown back, after the 
Italian custom ; the inflexions, no longer understood, were 
omitted ; and a compound language sprung up, which we 



18 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [Ch. I. 

must call no longer Pelasgian, but Etruscan. The Pelas- 
gian element predominated, but was always more and 
more corrupted by the influence of the Umbrian admix- 
ture. The older the fragments of the language, the more 
Pelasgic are they ; the later, the more Etruscan. There 
were some exceptions, — such, for instance, as Caere, which 
may have retained the Pelasgian language, — but these were 
only exceptions to the general rule. Lepsius supposes that 
the old Pelasgian language gave way to the new compound 
language at the time when the democratic party in Etruria, 
supported by the Romans, began to prevail over the Pelas- 
gian aristocracy : this period commences with the fifth 
century B.C., and includes the downfal of Tarquinii, the 
Veientine wars, the rise of the Roman colonies (383), the 
conquest of Perusia (310), and the seditions of Volsinii. 

As in England the country -people preserved their 
Saxon longer than the inhabitants of the towns, so it was 
in Etruria. This appears from the circumstance mentioned 
by Livy (x. 4) under the year B.C. 301, that some pre- 
tended shepherds were detected by a Roman general in 
Etruria, in consequence of their speaking the town lan- 
guage. The same author mentions (ix. 36), that, in the 
year B.C. 308, two men brought up at Caere were sent 
through the Ciminian forest to treat with the Camertians 
in Umbria. This implies that Umbrian country -people 
surrounded the Tuscan cities of Caere and Clusium (an- 
ciently called Caviars) ; and the same fact is implied, with 
regard to Etruria in general, in the mention of Penestce by 
Dionysius (ix. 5), and in the agrestes Etruscorum cohortes 
of Livy (ix. 86). 

The conclusion arrived at by Lepsius is, therefore, that 
the Etruscan language is a Pelasgian idiom, gradually de- 
stroyed by intermixture with the Umbrian ; and he is con- 
vinced that this view will be confirmed by every increase 
of our knowledge with regard to the Etruscan. What 



§ 14.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 19 

we already know of this language proves its connexion 
with the Grseco-Latin dialects on the one hand, and with 
the Umbrian on the other ; and it will be shewn in a sub- 
sequent chapter, that some even of those words which 
appear most barbarous, admit of a very satisfactory ex- 
planation from a comparison with corresponding roots in 
the Indo-Germanic languages. 

In addition, however, to the inferences which Lepsius § 14. 

has drawn from the notices scattered through the pages of origin of the" 

ancient writers, and from the Etruscan language as it still Etruscans fur- 

° ° ther confirmed 

appears, we must not overlook the fact that this identifica- by the tradition - 

tion of the Etruscans with the Tyrrhenian Pelasgians most the Luceres. 

strikingly explains the traditionary history of the Luceres. 

While a great many traditions represent the Luceres, or 

third Roman tribe, as Pelasgians, just as many more describe 

the settlers on the Cselian and Esquiline as Etruscans, who 

fought on the side of Romulus in his war with the Sabines. 

If, then, it is once ascertained that the Etruscans were 

Pelasgians, all these diverging traditions flow in the same 

channel. 

It appears that the Oscan or Alban Ramnes on the 
Palatine 1 had reduced the Pelasgians on the Caelian to 
a state of dependence or vassalage; what took place in 
Latium generally was also enacted on the Septimontium. 
These two communities — one of which we may call Roma, 
and the other Lucerum — constituted the original city of 
Rome, which contended on a footing of equality with the 
Quirites: hence the legend calls Roma the daughter of 
Italus and Leucaria, 2 — of the aboriginal Oscans, and the 
foreign or Pelasgian Luceres. When Roma admitted 

1 The " Palatini aborigines ex agro Reatino," as Varro calls them (L. L. 
v. § 53). 

2 Plutarch. Romul. ii. , where we must read Aevnapias. 



20 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [Cii. I. 

Quirium to the privileges of citizenship, the Qui rites na- 
turally took rank above the subject Luceres, and the celsi 
Roanies still remained at the head of the populus. Accord- 
ing to one story, they compelled the Luceres to leave their 
stronghold and descend to the plain. 1 It appears, too, 
that, together with the Caelian town, the Palatine Romans 
ruled over the possessions of the Luceres in the Solonian 
plain, which were called the Pectuscum Palati, or " breast- 
work of the Palatine." 2 Now, it is distinctly said, that 
the Luceres were first raised to the full privileges of the 
other burgesses by the first Tarquinius, who both intro- 
duced them into the senate, and also gave them represen- 
tatives among the ministers of religion. 3 And who was 
this Lucius Tarquinius but a Lucumo or grandee from the 
Tuscan city Tarquinii, who settled at Rome, and was raised 
to the throne ? Indeed, there seems to be but little reason 
to doubt that he was the Caeles Vivenna, 4 whose friend 
and successor Mastarna appears under the name of Servius 
Tullius. 5 The difference in the policy of the first and 
second of these Tuscan kings of Rome need not surprise 
us. Every scattered hint referring to this Tullius, or 
Mastarna, represents him as connected with that Pelasgian 

1 Varro, L. L. v. § 46. 

2 Festus, p. 213, Miiller: " Pectuscum Palati dicta est ea regie- Urbis, 
quam Romulus obversam posuit, ea parte in qua plurimum erat agri Romani 
ad mare versus et qua mollissime adibatur urbs, cum Etruscorum agrum a 
Romano Tiberis discluderet, ceterse vicinse civitates colles aliquos haberent 
oppositos." 

3 See Niebuhr, i. p. 296; iii. p. 350. 

4 Niebuhr, i. p. 375, note 922 ; and Kleine Schriften, ii. p. 26, sqq. 

5 See the celebrated Lugdunensian Table, Lipsius, Excurs. ad Tac. Ann. 
xi. 24. Miiller (Etrusker, i. 118-123) ingeniously conjectures that the reigns 
of the Tarquins mythically represent the predominance of the city Tarquinii, 
which was for a time interfered with by Mastarna, the representative of the 
rival city Volsinii. Tarquinii, however, for a while resumed her influence ; 
but at last was obliged to succumb, like the other Tuscan cities, to Clusium. 



§ 14.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 21 

branch of the Roman population which eventually fur- 
nished the greater part of the plebs , J whereas Vivenna, or 
Tarquinius, was a patrician or Lucumo of the Tuscan city 
Tarquinii, and his prejudices were of course aristocratic, 
or rather, as was more fully developed in the case of the 
second Tarquinius, tyrannical; for only the absolute so- 
vereign of a great nation could have accomplished the 
wonderful works which were achieved by this Tarquinian 
Lucumo. There is sufficient reason to believe that Rome 
stood high as a Tuscan town during the last years of its 
monarchal history. The Septimontium, if not the capital 
of southern Etruria, 2 was at least the southern bulwark of 
the twelve cities, and extended its dominion over a large 
part of the Sabine territory. The fall of the regal power 
of Rome has been well ascribed to the downfal of Tar- 
quinii and the rising predominance of Clusium. If Lars 
Porsena, when he conquered Rome, had really been anxious 
for the restoration of Superbus, he might easily have re- 
placed him on the throne ; but he was so far from doing 
this, that he did not even grant him an exsilium in his own 
dominions. The vanquished Lucumo of Rome took re- 
fuge, not at Clusium, but at Cumas, 3 with Porsena's great 
enemy Aristodemus, 4 whom he made his heir, and who 
subsequently defeated and slew Aruns Porsena, when, with 
a Clusian army, he made war on Aricia, and endeavoured 
to found a Tuscan empire in Latium. 

1 See, for instance, Livy, i. 30, where both Tullius and Servilius (Nie- 
buhr, i. note 920) are mentioned as Latin family names. 

2 Niebuhr, i. p. 373. 3 Cramer's Italy, ii. p. 150. 

4 There are many traces of the connexion of the Roman Tuscans with the 
Greeks. The first Tarquin himself is represented as half a Greek ; and Mac- 
aulay has pointed out very clearly the Greek features of the second Tarqui- 
nian legend {Lays of Ancient Rome, p. 80). The equestrian games of the 
Tarquins, and their reverence for the Delphic oracle, also imply frequent 
intercourse with Greece, of which we read still more distinctly in the case of 
Pyrgi, the renowned port of Agylla, or Cseie, another Etruscan town, which, 
like Tarquinii, was intimately connected with Rome. 



22 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES. [Ch. I. 

§ 15. This identification of the Etruscans with the Tyrrheno- 

oac usion. p e i aS g} aris enables us to come to a fixed conclusion on the 
subject of the old population of Italy, and the relations of 
the different tribes to one another. How they stood re- 
lated to the Transpadane members of the great European 
family is a subsequent inquiry ; but within the limits of 
Italy proper, we may now say, there were originally two 
branches of one great family, — the Umbrians, extending 
from the Po to the Tiber; and the Oscans, occupying the 
southern half of the peninsula. These nations were in- 
vaded by Pelasgians from the north-east. The main body 
of the invaders settled in Etruria, and established a perma- 
nent empire there, which the Umbrians could never throw 
off. Another great horde of Pelasgians settled in Latium, 
where they were afterwards partially conquered by the 
Oscans ; and a mixed population of Pelasgians and Oscans 
extended to the very south of Italy. The Sabines, how- 
ever, who were members of the great Umbrian family, 
returned from the hills, to which the Pelasgians had driven 
them, and pressed upon the other Umbrians, upon the 
Oscans, and upon those Latins who were a mixture of 
conquered Pelasgians and Oscan conquerors. The combi- 
nation of a branch of these Sabines with a branch of the 
Latins settled on the Tiber constituted the first beginnings 
of that Roman people which, standing in the midst of all 
these races, eventually became a point of centralisation for 
them all. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 

§ I. Etymology of the word He\a(ry6s. § 2. How the Pelasgians came into 
Europe. § 3. Thracians, Gets, and Scythians. § 4. Scythians and 
Medes. § 5. Iranian origin of the Sarmatians, Scythians, and Getse, 
may be shewn (1) generally, and (2) by an examination of the remains 
of the Scythian language. § 6. The Scythians of Herodotus were mem- 
bers of the Sclavoniari family. § 7. Peculiarities of the Scythian language 
suggested by Aristophanes. § 8. Names of the Scythian rivers derived 
and explained. § 9. Names of the Scythian divinities. § 10. Other 
Scythian words explained. § 11. Successive peopling of Asia and Europe : 
fate of the Mongolian race. § 12. The Pelasgians were of Sclavonian 
origin. § 13. Foreign affinities of the Umbrians, &c. § 14. Reasons for 
believing that they were the same race as the Lithuanians. § 15. Further 
confirmation from etymology. § 16. Celtic tribes intermixed with the 
Sclavonians and Lithuanians. § 17. The Sarmatse probably a branch of 
the Lithuanian family. 

Since the Umbrians, Oscans, &c. must be regarded in the s ], 

first instance as aboriginal inhabitants, the inquirer, who Etymology of 
would pass the limits of Italy and investigate the foreign \a<ry6s. 
affinities of the Italians, is first attracted by the Pelasgians. 
The seats of this race in Greece and elsewhere are well 
known ; but there is no satisfactory record as to the region 
from which they started on their wide-spread migrations, 
or the countries which they traversed on their route. Ac- 
cording to some they were Cretans, others make them Phi- 
listines, others again Egyptians ; in fact, there is hardly 
one ancient nation which has not been noted in its turn as 
their parent stock. Even their name has received almost 
every possible etymology. The older scholars derived the 



24 THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [Ch. II. 

name ITeXacryo? from Peleg; 1 Sturz connects it with ire- 
\d%(» ; 2 Hermann finds the root in ire\ayo<;, from 7re\d£co ; 3 
Wachsmuth 4 and Miiller, 5 considering nr€Kapy6<; to be the 
original form of the word, give as its etymology ireKw, " to 
till," and aypos, " the field," looking upon the nation as 
originally devoted to husbandry. The most common de- 
rivation is that which writes IleXapyoi, and interprets it 
" the storks," either from their wandering habits, 6 their 
linen dress, 7 or their barbarous speech. 8 Every one of 
these etymologies admits of an easy confutation. The best 
answer to them all is to point out a better analysis of the 
word. Buttmann 9 suggested long ago that the last two 
syllables were an ethnical designation, connected with the 
name Asca-nius, common in Phrygia, Lydia, and Bithynia, 
and with the name of Asia itself. He also correctly pointed 
to the relationship between Aslikenaz, the son of Gomer, 
and Javan, the biblical progenitor of the Ionians (IdFoves) 
(Gen. x. 3). Now the first syllable of the word Pel-asgus 
is clearly the same as that of Pel-ops. There are two Nio- 
bes in Greek mythology, daughters, the one of Phoroneus, 
the other of Tantalus — the latter is the sister of Pelops, 
the former the mother of Pelasgus. The syllable ITeA,- 
stands in the same relation to jie\- that Treha does to fierd. 
The original form of the root signifying " blackness" 

1 Salmasius de Hellenistica, p. 342. 

2 De Dialect. Macedon. p. 9. 

3 Opusc. ii. p. 174 : " weXayos enim, a verbo Tre\d(eit> dictum, ut ab La- 
tinis Venilia, mare notat ; a qua origine etiam weXaayoi, advence." 

4 Hellenische Alterthumsk. i. p. 29, Trans, p. 39. He also, half in jest, 
refers to irXa&v, " to lead astray," p. 36. 

5 " Von ireAo (ir6\ts, iroXew, der Sparte TliXwp, und tleXcipia, das Fest 
der Bewohnung) und dpyos." Orchom. p. 125. 

6 Strabo, v. p. 221 ; viii. p. 397. 

7 Bekker, Anecd. p. 229 : 8ia ras awMvas hs icp6pow. So also Etymol. 
Magn. 

8 Philol. Mus. i. p. 615. » Lexilogus, i. p. 68, note 1. 



§ 2.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 25 

was k/jL6\- ; 1 but the labial generally predominated over 
the guttural element. Of the labial forms, that with the 
tenuis more usually came to signify " livid" than " black ;" 
as we. see in the words Trekios, ireXthvos, &c. Apollodorus 
expressly says 2 that UeAm? was so called because his face 
was rendered livid (irekios) by a kick from a horse ; and it 
is obvious that IHX-o-^r, which signifies "dark-faced" or 
" swarthy," is an ethnical designation which differs from 
the well-known name AlQio-^r only in the degree of black- 
ness which is implied. The Aldioire^ were the " burnt- 
faced people" (quos India torret, as Tibullus says of them, 
ii. 3, 59), and are described as perfectly black (Jeremiah 
xiii. 23 ; Kvaveoi, Hes. Op. et Dies, 525) ; whereas the 
UeA.07re5 were only dark in comparison with the Hellenes. 3 
On the whole, it can hardly be doubted that the IleXaa-yoi 
were, according to the name given them by the old inha- 
bitants of Greece, <c the swarthy Asiatics," who were called 
by the latter part of their name along the coast of Asia 
Minor. The former part of the name was not necessary 
there, where all were dark-complexioned. 

Tradition and etymology agree, therefore, in tracing the § 2. 

Pelasgians, so called, to the western and northern coast of ians came int ~ 
Asia Minor. There is, however, little or no reason to Eur0 P e - 
doubt that the bulk of the race, to which these " swarthy 
Asiatics" belonged, entered Europe in the first instance 
through the wide district of Thrace, which is always men- 
tioned as the most ancient European settlement of this 
tribe. For although the legends about Pelops and Lydia 
make it probable that they subsequently crossed over the 

1 New Cratylus, p. 136. Buttmann's Lewil. ii. p. 265. " i. 9, § 8. 

3 Asius makes Pelasgus spring from the black earth (ap. Pausan. viii. 1,4): 

avrideov 5e TleXaaybv iv vipiKSfioKTiv Speffffi 

ycua fi4\aiv aviSainev, 'Lva. dvyjrSiv yevos dr]. 

But here the adjective is nothing but an epitheton constans. 



26 THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [Ch. II. 

JEgean, making settlements as they sailed along in the 
islands of the Archipelago, and though the etymology of 
their name refers to some such migration from the sunny 
coasts of Asia, it is nearly certain that the main body 
entered both Greece and Italy from the north-east. The 
course of their wanderings seems to have been as follows. 
They passed into this continent from the western side of 
the Euxine, and spread themselves over Thrace, Mace- 
donia, and Epirus ; then, while some of them forced their 
way into Greece, others, again moving on to the north- 
west, eventually entered Italy near the mouth of the Po. 
At some time, however, during the period of their settle- 
ment in Thrace, and before they had penetrated to the 
south of Greece, or had wandered to Italy, they appear to 
have crossed the Hellespont and peopled the western coast 
of Asia Minor, where they founded the city of Troy, and 
established the kingdom of Lydia — names to which the 
Pelasgians in Italy and Argos looked back with mysterious 
reverence. There seems to be good reason for believing 
that the Pelasgians acquired their distinctive character, 
that of agriculturists and architects, in the fertile plains of 
Asia Minor, and under that climate which was afterwards 
so prolific in works of art and genius. Those only of 
the Pelasgians who claimed a Lydian origin, namely, the 
Etruscans and Argives, were celebrated as artisans and 
tower-builders. It might be curious to inquire how the 
traditionary quarrels between the families of Dardanus and 
Tantalus contributed to produce the important Lydian 
migration into Greece ; but such an investigation scarcely 
belongs to our subject. 

Beyond these particulars we have no satisfactory data 
for the migrations of the great Pelasgian people ; and if we 
wish to know their original point of departure in Asia, we 
must turn to comparative philology and to ethnographical 
traditions of a different kind. 



§ 3.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 27 

Our point of departure, in these further researches into § 3. 

the original abode and ethnical affinities of the Pelasgians, tEe ^ndScy- 6 " 
is the great country of Thrace, their first European settle- tlua ns. 
ment. The Thracians, according to Herodotus, were, next 
to the Indians, the greatest people in the world ; T and Scylax 
tells us that their territory extended from the Strymon to 
the Ister. 2 Now, among these Thracians we find the two 
important tribes of Getse and Mysians, or Mcesians. Of 
these the geographer Strabo speaks as follows : 3 " The 
Greeks considered the Getas to be Thracians. There 
dwelt, however, on both sides of the Ister as well these 
Getae as the Mysi, who are likewise Thracians, and are 
now called Mcesi, from whom also the Mysi now dwelling 
among the Lydians, Phrygians, and Trojans, derived their 
origin." Again, Scylax informs us that the Scythians bor- 
dered on the Thracians ; 4 and Stephanus of Byzantium says 
expressly, 5 that the Scythians were of Thracian extraction. 
The same is implied in what Strabo says on the subject : 
and it has long been admitted that SfcvOao and Tercet are 
the same ethnical name. "We thus at once obtain new 
data, reaching far beyond the limits of Hellenic tradition. 

1 v. 2. 

2 Geogr. Vet., — Script. Min. i. p. 27. It is singular that the name of the 
Thracians should seem to hear the same relation to Tiras, one of the sons of 
Japheth, that the ethnical names of the Medes and Ionians do to the names 
of two of his other sons, Madai and Javan {Gen. x. 2). If it were necessary 
to seek a connexion between the word Tvpcrr)v6s and the Goth. Tkaursds, Old 
Norse Thurs, O. H. G. Durs, according to Grimm's suggestion (Deutsche 
Myth. pp. 23, 489, 2d ed.), we might with still greater safety bring the Thra- 
cians and the Aga-thyrsi into the same etymology. The Bithynians were 
Thracians; and there were Medo-Bithynians (MaiSol eBvos ®pa.Kt)s, Steph. 
Byz. p. 527) as well as Parthians (ol ^KvBai robs (pvydSas IldpOovs KtxAovffi, 
Steph. Byz. p. 628) in Thrace. 

3 p. 295. He says also (p. 302), that the Getse spoke the same language 
as the Thracians. 

4 Geogr. Vet., — S. M. i. p. 29. 

5 De Urbibus, p. 674. Berkel : ~2,kv6cu 'idfos Qpanwv. 



THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF 



[Ch. II. 



For if the Pelasgians can fairly be traced to Thrace as their 
first traditionary settlement in Europe, and if we can pass 
from the Thracians to the Gretse, and from the Getae to the 
Scythians, we are carried into a new field, in which our 
speculations immediately receive the support of comparative 
philology. 

The Scythians of Herodotus are represented as occu- 
pying the wide tract of country which lies to the north of 
the Euxine. Though there are some alleged differences, 
we can collect that the whole country between Media and 
the Danube was occupied by a series of cognate tribes. 
The earliest traditions represent these Scythians as in con- 
tinual contact and collision with the Medes ; and we re- 
ceive many significant hints that the Scythians and Medes 
were ultimately connected with one another as kindred 
races. If we pursue this subject in its details, especially 
as illustrated by the fragments of the Scythian language 
which Herodotus and others have preserved, we shall see 
that the Pelasgians may be traced step by step to a primary 
settlement in Media or northern Iran. 



The general proof that Iran, or the country lying 
between the Caspian, the Euphrates, the Indian Ocean, 
and the Indus, was the original abode of the Indo-Germanic 
race, has been given elsewhere. 1 It has also been shewn, 
that within these limits were spoken two great branches of 
the one Indo-Germanic language, which stood related to one 
another in much the same way as the Low and High Ger- 
man ; the former being the older, and spoken by the inhabi- 
tants of Media, the northern half of this district. To these 
Medes, or, as they may be called, the Northern and Low 
Iranians, we refer, on the one hand, the Hindus, who call 
themselves Arians {dry as, " well-born"), for this was also 



§ 5.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. £9 

the ancient name of the Medes ; and, on the other hand, 
the following members of the Low-German family : — (a) 
the Sarmatce or Sauromatce, an old Sclavonian tribe, who 
are expressly called " descendants of the Medes " both by 
Diodorus 1 and by Pliny, 2 whose name, in the cognate 
Lithuanian language, signifies " the northern Medes or 
Matieni," 3 and who, under the slightly modified name of 
Syrmatce, dwelt near the Indus ; 4 (b) the Sigy?mcs, or 
Sclavonian Wends, to whom Herodotus ascribes a Median 
parentage ; 5 (c) the Saxons, Sacassani, or Saca-sunu, i. e. 
" sons of the Sacas," who once occupied Bactriana, as well 
as the most fertile part of Armenia, and from thence forced 
their way into Europe ; 6 and, above all, (d) the Goths, 
who, under the different local names of Terat, H-/cv0ai, 
i. e. Asa-goths, Qvcraa-'yeTaL, or Tvpi-yirat, i. e. Tyras- 
getce, or Groths dwelling by the Dniester, and Mvaol, 
Moiaoi, or Maa-o-a-jerai, i. e. Moeso-goths, occupied the 
whole of the districts which extend from the north-east 
of Iran to the borders of Thrace. 7 

1 ii. 43, p. 195. Dind. 2 H. N. vi. 7. 

3 Gatterer ap. Bbckh, C. I. ii. p. 83. 4 Plin. H. N. vi. 18. 

5 v. 9. Strabo, p. 520. 

6 Plin. H. N. vi. 11. Strabo, pp. 73, 507, 509, 511, 513. Among those 
who fought with Visvdmitra are mentioned (Ramdyana, i. c. 54, cl. 18), first, 
the Pahlavi, i. e. the Persians, for they were called Pahlavi by the Indians ; 
and then a mixed army of Sacee and Yavani, who covered the whole earth 
{fair dsit sanvrfd bhumih CaJcair-Yavanan-icritaih). The Persians called 
the Scythians in general Sacee (Herod, vii. 64 : ol yap Xlep<rcu iravras robs 
^Kvdas Kakeovai ~2a.Kas). A. W. von Schlegel (ad loc. Ramdy. ii. 2, p. 169) 
thinks that the name 'IdFcoi', the original form of 'lduiv, "luiv, was not brought 
from Greece, but was learned by the settlers in Asia from the Lydians ; and 
that the Yavani here mentioned by the Indian poet were the Greeks in general, 
who were always so called by the Indians, Persians, and Jews (Schol. ad 
Arist. Aeharn. 106 : ■k6.vto,s roiis"E\Arivas 'laovas ol fSapfSagoi inaAow). 

7 The traditions of the Goths referred not merely to Asia in general, but 
in particular to their Midum-heime, or " Median home," as the point of their 
departure (Ritter, Vorhalle, p. 473). 



30 



THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF 



[Ch. II. 



and by an exa- 
mination of the 
remains of the 
Scythian lan- 
guage. 



Although these general points are already established, 
the details of the subject have not yet been sufficiently 
examined, especially as regards the fragments of the lan- 
guage spoken by these northern and western scions of the 
great Median stock. It is in accordance with the general 
object of this treatise, that these details should be followed 
as far as they will lead us ; and it is hoped that, by an 
analysis of all the Scythian words and names which Hero- 
dotus and others have preserved, the affinity of the Scy- 
thians to the Medes will be confirmed by the most decisive 
proofs, and that it will appear that the Pelasgians, whom 
tradition traces to the same regions, were members of the 
Sclavonian race. 



§6. 

The Scythians 
of Herodotus 
were members 
of the Sclavo- 
nian family. 



The Scythian words which have been preserved by the 
ancients are names of rivers, places, and persons ; designa- 
tions of deities ; and common terms. Before we consider 
these separately, it will be as well to inquire if there are 
not some general principles by which the characteristics of 
the language may be ascertained. 

Niebuhr thinks 1 that the Scythians belonged to the 
Mongol race ; and this is doubtless true of the original 
Scythians, whom the Medo- Scythians invaded and drove 
to the north. But these are not the people with whom 
we are at present concerned, and whose language has been 
preserved in the fragments which we are about to exa- 
mine. The Scythians, with whom the Greeks were so well 
acquainted, were the same in origin with the Getae and 
Sauromatae, who bounded them on either side. That the 
Sauro-matce, or " northern Medes," were a branch of the 
Sclavonian family is clear from their connexion with the 
Rhoxo-lani; these are described by Tacitus 2 as a Sarma- 
tian tribe ; and the Muscovites are still called Rosso-l 



1 Kleine Schriften, i. p. 361. 



2 Hist. i. 79. 



§ 7.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 31 

or Russian people, by the Finns, who designate themselves 
as the Suoma-lainen. 1 The Sclav onian language may be 
classed with the oldest branch of the Low-German dialects, 
which is compared with the Median or Low -Iranian idiom. 
Consequently, if the Scythians, of whom Herodotus wrote, 
were of the same race with the Sauromatae, — and this is 
implied in his statement that the Sarmatian language was 
a corruption of the Scythian, 2 — we must conclude that the 
Scythians were of the same race as the Sclavonians. The 
first principle, then, which we have to guide us in our exa- 
mination of the fragments in which the Scythian language 
is preserved, is this, that the Scythians were members of 
the widely extended Sclavonian family. 3 

Some other general views are furnished by Aristo- 
phanes. It is well known that the police of Athens con- 

1 Prichard, Celtic Nations, p. 16. 2 iv. 117. 

3 Since writing the above the author has fallen in with an ingenious, but 
flippant, treatise {Skythien und die Sky then des Herodot, von Dr. F. L. 
Lindner, Stuttgart, 1841), in which the connexion of the Scythians with the 
Sclavonians is proved on the principle of exhaustion, — the Sclavonians were 
the only possible descendants of the Scythians, because no other nation could 
have descended from them. Dr. Lindner does not enter upon the language 
of the Scythians : he remarks, however, that Scolota is probably the same 
word as Sclavonians ; that Colatis is the modern Galatsch ; and that in the 
name of the three sons of Targitaos (Leipoxa-is, &c), we have the Sclavonian 
terminations -itsch or -atsch. He holds that, according to Herodotus, we 
have five, and only five, divisions of the Scythian nation, — four in Europe and 
one in Asia, namely, — 

1. The Scolotce, or proper Scythians, between the Danube and the Dnieper. 

2. The Sauromatce, between the Dnieper and the Donetz. 

3. The Budini, in the same district, but to the north of the former. 

4. The Agathyrsi, in Transylvania. 

5. The Sacce, to the east of the Caspian. 

There is some good matter in this book of Lindner's ; but the self-sufficiency 
and arrogance of the author would seriously diminish the worth of a much 
more complete and satisfactory essay on the subject. He has received a 
severe castigation from Dr. Bobrik, in the Berlin. Jalirlucher for August 
1842, p. 218, sqq. 



6% THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [Ch. II. 

language sug- sisted of Scythian bowmen. Accordingly, when the great 
tophanes. * comedian introduces one of these public servants on the 
stage, we might expect that, as he imitates the. broad 
dialects of the Boeotians and Megarians, and the pure Doric 
of the Spartans, he would also give an accurate representa- 
tion of the broken Greek of these barbarian functionaries. 1 
When we mimic the provincialisms of the Highlanders or 
the Welsh, we are careful to substitute tenues for medials ; 
and in the same way, we may suppose, Aristophanes would 
represent the leading peculiarities of the Scythian pronun- 
ciation of Greek. Now we find that his Scythian bowman 
in the Thesmophoriazusce consistently omits the final -<? or -v 
of Greek words, substitutes the lenis for the aspirate, and 
once puts £ for sigma. We should expect, therefore, that 
the Scythian language would present us with Visargah and 
Anuswarah? would repudiate aspirated consonants, and 
employ f instead of the ordinary sibilant. While this is 
the case with the fragments of the Scythian language 
which still remain, it is even more remarkable in the old 
idioms of Italy. In fact, these peculiarities constitute, as 
we shall see in the sequel, some of the leading features 
by which the Italian languages are distinguished from the 
dialects of ancient Greek. 



§ 8. The names of the Scythian rivers, which Herodotus 

Scythian rivers enumerates, will first engage our attention. These names 

derived and ex- are materially corrupted by the Greek transcription ; but 

with the help of the general principles which have just 

been stated, we shall be able to analyse them without much 

difficulty. 

Beginning from the European side, the first of these 
rivers is the Is-ter, or, as it is now called, the Don-au or 

1 See Niebuhr, Kleine Schriften, ii. p. 200 (uber das JEgyptisch- 
Gfiechische). 

2 N. Crat. pp. 314, 317. 



§ 8.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 33 

Dan-ube. If we follow the analogy of our own and other 
countries, we shall observe that local names very often 
consist of synonymous elements ; from which we may infer 
that the earlier parts of the word have successively lost 
their significance. Thus, the words wick, ham, and town, 
are synonymous, though belonging to different ages of our 
language ; and yet we have compounds such as Wick-ham 
and Ham\_p~\-ton-wick. The words wan, beck, and water, 
are synonymous ; and yet we find a stream in the north of 
England called Wans-beck-water. The words nagara and 
pura in Sanscrit both signify " city ;" but we find in India 
a city called Nag-poor. In the same way, we believe that 
both parts of the word Is-ter denote " water" or " river." 
The first part of the word is contained in the name of our 
own river Thames, or Tam-isis, the upper part of which is 
still called the Is-is : the second part we shall discuss di- 
rectly, in speaking of the third Scythian river. The other 
and more recent name, Dan-ub-ius, also contains two ele- 
ments, each signifying " water" or "river." The latter 
part is found in the Gaelic ap, and in our Avon, Sec. ; the 
former in most of the Scythian rivers, as will presently 
appear. 

The next river is the Por-ata or Pruth, which obviously 
contains the same root as the Greek word iropos. 

The third river is called by Herodotus the Tvp-7)$, and 
is now known as the Dnies-ter or Danas-ter. The latter 
part of this name is the same as the latter part of Is-ter. 
The first part of the compound is the commencement of 
the other name of the Is-ter. In the transcription of 
Herodotus, either this word is omitted, and the Danas-ter 
is mentioned merely as the Ter, or the last syllable of 
Tvp-r)<; represents the first syllable of the Is-ter; so that 
the Danube was called the Is-ter, and the Dnies-ter the 
Ter-is. It is singular that the syllables Dan-, Don-, or 
Dim-, and Ter- or Tur-, are used in the Celtic and Pelas- 

D 



34 THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [Ch. II. 

gian languages respectively to signify " height," or " hill," 
or " hill-tower ;" and it is to he supposed that this was the 
origin of their application to the river, which flows rapidly 
down from its birth-place in the mountains. 1 

The river Hypan-is is called, according to the Greek 
transcription, by a name compounded of the Celtic Apart, 
{Avon) and the word is-, which we have just examined. 
The first part of the word occurs also in the name of the 
river Hypa-caris, which means the water of Caris. The 
root of the second part of this name appears in the names of 
the city Car-cine, and the river Ger-rus, which flowed into 
the Car-cinitis sinus by the same mouth as the Hypan-is 
and Hypa-caris. It would also seem that the exceedingly 
corrupted name Pan-ticapes began originally with the same 
word : the meaning of the last three syllables is absolutely 
lost, and they will scarcely be sought in the modern name 
Ingul-etz, of which we can only say that the last syllable 
represents the root is- ; comp. Tana-is, Tana-etz. 2 

The Greeks who dwelt near the mouth of the great 
river Borysthenes naturally pronounced the native name of 
the river in the manner most convenient to their own arti- 
culation ; and the name, as it stands, is to all outward ap- 
pearance a Greek word. This circumstance has deceived 
the ablest of modern geographers, who derives the first 
part of the word from Boprj? or Bopiaq. There is little 
difficulty, however, in shewing that the name is identical 
with that by which the river is known at the present time, 
— the Dnie-per ot Dana-par is. It is well known that the 
northern Greeks were in the habit of substituting the 

1 Coleridge has, with much poetical truth, designated a cataract as " the 
son of the rock" {Poems, vol. ii. p. 131). 

2 The identification of the Ingul-etz with the Pan-ticapes depends upon 
the position of the Hylrna, or " woodland" district, which must have been on 
the right bank of the Borysthenes, for the other side of the river is both wood- 
less and waterless (see Lindner, p. 40, sqq.). The name Ingul is borne by 
another river, which may be identified with the Hypa-caris. 



§ 9.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 35 

medial, not only for the tenuis, but even for the aspirate ; 
thus we have fivpyoq for nrvp<yo$, Bepevl/cri for Qepeviicq, 
Savelv for Oavelv, and B6(T-iropo<i for <f>cb<r-(j)opos. Ac- 
cordingly, their pronunciation of the word Dana-paris 
(== Paris -danas) would be Dana-baris, or, by an inter- 
change of the two synonymous elements, Baris -danas. 1 
But the Greek ear was so familiar to the sequence <r0-, 
that the sd- would inevitably fall into this collocation ; 
and, with a change of vowels, for the same purpose of giving 
the barbarous name a Greek sound, the compound would 
become the Hellenic form Bopuadevrjs, a word which has 
hitherto eluded etymological analysis. 

The Tana-is was the most easterly of Scythian, and 
indeed of European, rivers. The explanation of the name 
is implied in what has been already stated. No difficulty 
can arise from the appearance of a tenuis instead of the 
medial, which generally appears in the first part of this 
name ; for the Danube, which is most consistently spelt 
with the medial, is called the Tun-owe in the Niebelungen- 
lied (v. 6116). The Tanais seems to have been the same 
river which the Cossacks still call the Donaetz or Tanaetz. 

"We find the name Danas in composition not only with 
the synonymes Is-, Ap-, Paris, and Ter, but also with 
Rita-, which occurs in the name of the Asiatic A-ra-xes, 
now the Rha-, or Wolga. Thus, we have the E-ri-danus 
in Italy, the Rha-danau in Prussia, the Rho-danus in 
France, and the name 'Pov-Bov, quoted by Ptolemy. In 
England the name Dana occurs by itself as " the Don." 

Let us now pass to the names of the Scythian gods, § 9. 

which may be referred without any difficulty to the roots of 
the Indo-Germanic family of languages. Herodotus informs nities 
us (iv. 59), that the names by which the Scythians desig- 

1 A similar change has taken place in the name Berezina. 



Names of the 
Scythian divi- 



OO THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [Ch. II. 

nated the Greek divinities, 'Iarct], Zev<;, Trj, AttoXKwv, 
OvpavcT] AtypoBlrr}, and JJocreihewv, were TajBni, Ua- 
7rai09, Anrla, Olroavpos, Apripbiraaa, and ©a/jLifAacrd&a<;. 

e IaTir), or Vesta, was the goddess of fire. There can 
be no doubt why the Medo-Scythians called her Tahiti, 
when we know that in the Zend and Sanscrit languages 
the root tab- or tap- signifies " to burn." Compare also 
the Latin tab-eo, the Greek rt</>-09, and the German 
thau-en. 

Zevs, or Zevs irarrjp (Ju-piter), was called Hairalo<;, 
or " the Father," a name by which he was known to the 
Latins also. The primary labial sounds are appropriated 
in all languages to express the primary relation of parent 
and child. The children on whom Psammitichus tried his 
experiment (Herod, ii. 2) first uttered the articulate sound 
/3e-fco$, apparently the first labial followed by the first 
guttural ; and in some articulations, as well as in the order 
of our alphabet, this is the natural sequence. To this spon- 
taneous utterance of the first labials to designate the pa- 
rental relation and the primary necessities of infancy, I 
have referred elsewhere (N. Crat. p. 340) ; and it seems 
to have struck Delitsch also (Isagoge, p. 131), when he 
speaks of those nouns " quae aboriginum instar sine verbi 
semine sponte provenerunt, velut 2S } as, primi labiales bal- 
butientis pueri, Sanscr. pi-tri, nia-tri, &c." 

The Scythian name for the goddess of the Earth is 
Airla. This word actually occurs in Greek, ,as the name 
of the country where the Pelasgians ruled : and the root 
Ap- or Op- is of frequent occurrence both in Greece and 
in Italy (Buttmann's Lexil. s. v.). 

As the Scythian religion appears to have exhibited an 
elementary character, we should expect that their Apollo 
would be " the god of the sun." And this seems to be the 
meaning of his name, as cited by Herodotus. Olro-o-vpos 
should signify " the light or life of the sun." The second 



§ 9.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 37 

part of the word at once refers us to the Sanscrit surya, 
which is also implied in the avpiov apfia of iEschylus (Pers. 
86. N. Crat. p. 576). The first two syllables may be ex- 
plained as follows. After the loss of the digamma, the 
sound of w at the beginning of a word was often expressed 
by o : thus we have "Oa^o<; = Fago? ; "Oao~is, with its 
modern equivalent el Wall; the Persian interjection oa 
(iEschyl. Pers. 116), which is doubtless the Greek repre- 
sentative of the oriental exclamation wah; the N. Test. 
ovai=weh; and the word olarpos, referring to the whiz- 
zing noise of the gad-fly. Accordingly, Olro-crvpos, pro- 
nounced Wito-suros, signifies the Uita, Olros, Alaa, or life 
of the sun : comp. the Russian Vite, signifying " a por- 
tion ;" or if we prefer the cognate idea of light, we may 
compare the oho- with aWrj, aWos, uitta, weiss, " white." 

It is by no means clear what were the attributes of the 
celestial Venus of the Scythians. It seems, however, that 
the name 'ApTlfi-Trao-a must be an approximation to Erth- 
am-pasa, " the queen of the earth." 

The Scythian name for Neptune may be explained 
with almost demonstrable certainty. The general obser- 
vations on the Scythian language have shewn that they 
preferred the tenuis to the aspirate. The word ©a/jit/jua- 
<rdSa<; must therefore have been pronounced Tami-masadas. 
Now, if we compare this word with the Scythian proper 
name Octa-masadas (Herod, iv. 80), we shall see that 
masadas must be the termination. In the Zend, or old 
Median language, Mazdas (connected with maz, " great "), 
signifies " a god," or " object of worship." So Or-muzd is 
called Ahura-mazdas, and a worshipper is termed Mazda- 
yasna. Accordingly, Tami-masadas must mean " a god, 
or object of worship, with regard to Tami." When, there- 
fore, we learn from Pliny, that Temerinda is equivalent to 
mater maris, we cannot doubt that Teme, or Tami, means 
" the sea," and that Tami-masadas, or " Neptune," is, by 



o8 THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [Ch. II. 

interpretation, " the god of the sea." It does not appear 
that the second part of the name Temerinda is a distinct 
word in itself. It seems more probable that it is a femi- 
nine termination, analogous to Larunda. The word Tama 
probably signifies " broad water ;" for the river which is 
called the Is -is while it is narrow, becomes the Tam-is-is, 
or " Thames," when it begins to widen. 

That the name of a man, like Octa-masadas, should be 
significant of veneration will not surprise those who recol- 
lect the Scythian name Sparga-pises (the son of Tomyris, 
Herod, i. 211), or Sparga-pithes (a king of the Agathyrsi, 
id. iv. 78), which seems to be equivalent to the Sanscrit 
Svarga-pati, "lord of heaven" — sparga bearing the same 
relation to svarga that the Persian acpa does to the San- 
scrit acva ; and the Zend qpan, old Persian cpaka, Sclavo- 
nian sabaka, to the Sanscrit cva (cvati), Greek kvgov. 

§ 10. Leaving the names of divinities, we may turn to the 

words explain" scarce ly l ess mythological Arimaspi. Herodotus says that 
they were a one-eyed people (p,ovv6(f)0a\/xoi), and that 
their name indicates as much — api/u,a jap ev /ca\eovo~i 
2/cvdai, cnroi) Se rbv 6<pda\/n6v. If this be true, we shall 
have no difficulty in referring the name to the class of lan- 
guages of which we are speaking ; for, with the change of r 
for d, so common in Latin (compare auris, audio; ar-veho= 
ad-veho; arvocito=scepe advoco,~Fest.; ar-cesso=ad-cesso ; 
meridie=medi-die, &c), arima will represent the Sanscrit 
ordinal ddima ; and we may compare airov with the root 
spic- or spec-, signifying " to spie " or " to see." 

Another compound, which may with equal facility be 
referred to the Indo-Germanic family of languages, is the 
name by which the Scythians designated the Amazons. 
Olopirara, according to Herodotus, is equivalent to av- 
SpoKTovo? — olop jap Kakkovai rbv avSpa, rb Be 7rara, 
Kreiveiv. Now olop is clearly the Sanscrit vira, the Zend 



ed, 



§ 10.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 39 

vairya, the Latin vir, Gothic vair-s, Welsh gwyr, and the 
Lithuanian vyras. The root pat in Sanscrit does not 
signify primarily " to kill," but " to fall ;" though the 
causative form pdtyati constantly means " he kills," i. e. 
" causes to fall." It seems more probable, however, that 
the Scythian articulation has substituted a tenuis for the 
#-sound, as in the case of sparga for svarga, mentioned 
above, and that the verb is to be sought in the common 
Sanscrit root vadha, "■ to strike," " to kill," " to destroy." 

Pliny (Hist. Nat. vi. 17) tells us that the Scythian name 
for Mount Caucasus was Grou-casus, i. e. nive candidus. 
The first part of this word is clearly connected with gela, 
glacies, Kpvos, tcpu-o-TaWos, halt, cold, grau, and grey ; 
and casa, " white," may be compared with cas-tus, cas- 
nar (senex Oscorum lingua, Fest. ; comp. Varro, L. L. 
vii. § 29), canus, &c. 

In the tract about rivers, printed among Plutarch's 
Fragments, we have the following Scythian words, with 
interpretations annexed. He does not interpret dXivSa, 
which he describes as a sort of cabbage growing near the 
Tanais (c. xiv. § 2) : we may compare the word with Teme- 
rinda. He tells us, however, that /3pi£dj3a means /cpiov 
fiercoTTOv (c. xiv. § 4), that <ppv%a is equivalent to fiicro- 
Trovrjpos (c. xiv. § 5), and apd£a signifies fiLcro7rdp6evo<; 
(c. xxiii. § 2). Of these, (Spit;, " a ram," seems connected 
with berbex, verbix, or vervex. 'A(3a is probably akin to 
caput, kapala, liaupt, &c, — the initial guttural having been 
lost, as in amo, Sanscr. kama~. We may compare %d, " to 
hate," with the German scheu. The syllable <f>pv (phru) 
probably contains the element of prav-us (comp. the Ger- 
man f revel) ; and dpa, signifying " a virgin," may perhaps 
be connected with "Ap-repus, Etrusc. Ari-timi-s. 

Herodotus (iv. 52) mentions a fountain the name of 
which was IZkvOuttI puev ^E^afiTraio^, Kara he rrjv 'EWrj- 
voov fykwaaav, 'I pal 6Bol. Ritter (Vorhalle, p. 345) conjee- 



40 THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [Ch. II. 

tures that the original form of , E^afi-7rai-o<; must have 
been Hexen-Pfad, i. e. Asen-Pfad, which he compares with 
Siri-pad, and which denotes, he thinks, the sacred ominous 
road by which the Cimmerian Buddhists travelled towards 
the west. Bockh {Corpus Inscript. ii. p. Ill) supposes 
the right interpretation to be ivvea 6801; so that i£dv is 
" nine." The numeral " nine" is preserved in a very mu- 
tiluted state in all languages, both Semitic and Indo-Ger- 
manic. It may, however, be shewn that it is equivalent in 
all its expressions to 10— 1 ; and it would not be difficult 
to point out the possibility of this in the word i%dv, if the 
reading ivvea 68ol were really certain. 

This examination includes all the Scythian words which 
have come down to us with an interpretation ; and in all 
of them it has been shewn that they are connected, in the 
signification assigned to them, with the roots or elements 
which we find in the Indo-Germanic languages. If we add 
this result of philology to the traditionary facts which have 
been recorded of the international relations of the Getse, 
Scythae, Sauromatae, and Medes, we must conclude that 
the inhabitants of the northern side of the Euxine, who 
were known to the Greeks under the general name of Scy- 
thians, were members of the Indo-Germanic family, and 
not Mongolians, as Niebuhr has supposed. 

§11. The true theory with regard to the successive peopling 

pSngSAsS " of Asia and Europe seems to be the following. 1 While 
S^pMnn the Indo-Germanic or Japhetic race was developing itself 
within the limits of Iran, and while the Semitic family 
were spreading from Mesopotamia to Arabia and Egypt, a 
great population of Tchudes, or Mongolians, had extended 

1 See Winning's Manual, p. 124, sqq. Rask iiber das Alter und die 
Echtheit der Zend-Sprache, p. 69, sqq., Hagen's Tr. And, for the affinity 
of the inhabitants of Northern Asia in particular, see Prichard on the Ethno- 
graphy of High Asia (Journal of R. G. S. ix. 2, p. 192, sqq.). 



§ 12.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 41 

its migrations from the Arctic to the Indian Ocean, and 
from Greenland over the whole north of America, Asia, 
and Europe, even as far as Britain, France, and Spain. 
In proportion, however, as these Tchudes were widely 
spread, so in proportion were they thinly scattered ; their 
habits were nomadic, and they never formed themselves 
into large or powerful communities. Consequently, when 
the Iranians broke forth from their narrow limits, in com- 
pacter bodies, and with superior physical and intellectual 
organisation, they easily mastered or drove before them 
these rude barbarians of the old world ; and in the great 
breadth of territory which they occupied, the Tchudes 
have formed only two independent states — the Mantchus 
in China, and the Turks in Europe. There can be no 
doubt that they were mixed with the Sarmatians and Getae, 
who conquered them on the north of the Euxine ; and 
perhaps the name of S-colotae, or Asa-Galatce, by which 
the Scythae called themselves, may point to a Celtic in- 
termixture. But it is obvious, from the arguments which 
have been adduced, that this Scythian nation, of which 
Herodotus wrote, did not consist of Tchudes, but of the 
Indo- Germanic tribes, who conquered them, and who 
were, as has been shewn, of the same family as the 
Pelasgians. 

It has been proved that the Sarmatians were the § 12. 
parent stock of the Sclavonians ; and we find in the Scla- g^ of sdavo- 
vonian dialects ample illustrations of those general prin- nian origin, 
ciples by which the Scythian languages seem to have been 
characterised. Making, then, a fresh start from this point, 
we shall find an amazing number of coincidences between 
the Sclavonian languages and the Pelasgian element of 
Greek and Latin : most of these have been .pointed out 
elsewhere ; at present it is only necessary to call attention 
to the fact. So that, whichever way we look at it, we 



42 THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [Ch. II. 

shall find new reasons for considering the Pelasgians as a 
branch of the great Sarmatian or Sclavonian race. The 
Thracians, Getas, Scythae, and Sauromatse, were so many 
links in a long chain connecting the Pelasgians with 
Media ; the Sauromatse were Sclavonians ; and the Pelas- 
gian language, as it appears in the oldest forms of Latin, 
and in certain Greek archaisms, was unquestionably most 
nearly allied to the Sclavonian : we cannot, therefore, 
doubt that this was the origin of the Pelasgian people, 
especially as there is no evidence or argument to the 
contrary. 

But, to return to Italy, who were the old inhabitants 
of that peninsula ? Whom did the Pelasgians in the first 
instance conquer or drive to the mountains ? What was 
the origin of that hardy race, which, descending once 
more to the plain, subjugated Latium, founded Rome, and 
changed the destiny of the world ? 

The Umbrians, Oscans, or Sabines — for we must now 
consider them as only different members of the same family 
— are never mentioned as foreigners. We know, however, 
that they must have had their Transpadane affinities as 
well as their Pelasgian rivals. It is only because they 
were in Italy before the Pelasgians arrived there, that they 
are called aborigines. The difference between them and 
the Pelasgians is in effect this : in examining the ethnical 
affinities of the latter we have tradition as well as compa- 
rative grammar to aid us; whereas the establishment of 
the Umbrian pedigree depends upon philology alone. 

§ 14. Among the oldest languages of the Indo-Germanic 



family not the least remarkable is the Lithuanian, which 



Reasons for be- 
lieving that they 

were the same stands first ^among the Sclavonian dialects, 1 and bears a 
1 See Pott, Et. Forsch. i. p. xxxiii. 



§ 14.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 43 

nearer resemblance to Sanscrit than any European idiom, race as the Li- 
It is spoken, in different dialects, by people who live 
around the south-east corner of the Baltic. One branch 
of this language is the old Prussian, which used to be 
indigenous in the Sam-land or " Fen-country" between 
the Memel and the Pregel, along the shore of the Curische 
Haf. Other writers have pointed out the numerous and 
striking coincidences between the people who spoke this 
language and the Italian aborigines. Thus the connexion 
between the Sabine Cures, Quirinus, Quirites, &c. and the 
old Prussian names Cures, Cour-land, Curische Haf, &c. 
has been remarked; it has been shewn that the wolf 
(hirpus), which was an object of mystic reverence among 
the Sabines, and was connected with many of their cere- 
monies and some of their legends, is also regarded as 
ominous of good luck among the Lettons and Courland- 
ers ; the Sabine legend of the rape of the virgins, in the 
early history of Rome, was invented to explain their mar- 
riage ceremonies, which are still preserved among the 
Courlanders and Lithuanians, where the bride is carried 
off from her father's house with an appearance of force ; 
even the immortal name of Rome is found in the Prus- 
sian Romowo ; and the connexion of the words Roma, 
Romulus, ruma Iwpce, and ruminalis ficus, is explained 
by the Lithuanian raumu, gen. raumens, signifying " a 
dug" or "udder." 1 Besides these, a great number of 

1 See Festus, p. 266-8, Miiller ; and Pott, Etymol. Forsch. ii. p. 283. 
According to this etymology, the name Romanics ultimately identifies itself 
with the ethnical denomination Hirpinus. The derivation of the word Roma 
is, after all, very uncertain ; and there are many who might prefer to connect 
it with Groma, the name given to the forum, or point of intersection of the 
main streets in the original Roma quadrata, which was also, by a very signi- 
ficant augury, called mundus (see Festus, p. 266 ; Dionys. i. 88 ; Bunsen, 
Beschreib. d. Stadt Rom, iii. p. 81; and below, Ch. VII. § 6). The word 
groma or gruma, however, is not without its Lithuanian affinities. I cannot 
agree with Miiller (Etrusk. ii. p. 152), Pott (Etym. Forsch. ii. 101), and 



44 THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [Ch. II. 

words and forms of words in the Sabine language are 
explicable most readily from a comparison with the Li- 
thuanian; and the general impression which these argu- 
ments leave upon our mind is, that the aborigines of Italy 
were of the same race as the Lithuanians or old Prus- 



§ 15. Let us add to this comparison one feature which has 

2on r from r " not y et Deen observed. The Lithuanians were not only 
etymology. called by this name, which involves both the aspirated 
dental ih and the vocalised labial u, but also by the 
names Livonian and Lettonian, which omit respectively 
one or other of these articulations. Now it has been 
mentioned before, that the name of the Latins exhibits the 
same phenomenon ; for as they were called both Latins 
and Lavines, it follows that their original name must have 
been Latui?iians, which is only another way of spelling and 
pronouncing Lithuanians. If, therefore, the warrior tribe, 
which descended upon Latium from Reate and conquered 
the Pelasgians, gave their name to the country, we see 
that these aborigines were actually called Lithuanians, and 
it has been shewn that they and the Sabines were virtually 
the same stock. Consequently, the old Prussians brought 
even their name into Italy. And what does this name 

Benfey (Wurzel-Lexikon, ii. p. 143), who follow the old grammarians and 
connect this word with the Greek yvufia, yvcifiri, yv&iuap : it is much more 
reasonable to suppose, with Klenze {Abhandl. p. 135, note), that it is a genuine 
Latin term; and I would suggest that it may be connected with grumus, 
Lithuan. Jcruwa, Lettish kraut : comp. Kpoifia^, nXuifxa^, globus, gleba, &c. 
The name may have been given to the point of intersection of the main via 
and limes, because a heap of stones was there erected as a mark (cf. Charis. i. 
p. 19). Even in our day it is common to mark the junction of several roads 
by a cross, an obelisk, or some other erection; to which the grumus, or 
" barrow," was the first rude approximation. If so, it may still be connected 
with ruma; just as fiaar6s signifies both " a hillock" and " a breast;" and 
the omission of the initial g before a liquid is very common in Latin, comp . 
narro with yvwpifa, nosco with yiyvibcww, and norma with yvcipi/nos. 



§ 17.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 45 

signify ? Simply, " freemen." l For the root signifying 
" free/' in all the European languages consisted of /- and 
a combination of dental and labial, with, of course, a vowel 
interposed. In most languages the labial is vocalised into 
u, and prefixed to the dental; as in Greek i-XevOe-pos, 
Lithuan. liaudis, Germ, leute, &c. In the Latin liber the 
labial alone remains. 

There are many points of resemblance between these § 16. 
Lithuanians and the Sclavonians on the one hand, and termked with 1 " 
between them and the Celts on the other: and it can the Sclavonians 

and Lithuani- 

scarcely be doubted that in their northern as well as their ans. 
southern settlements, they were a good deal intermixed 
with Celtic tribes in the first instance, and subjected to 
Sclavonian influences afterwards. That this was the case 
with the Lithuanians, we learn from their authentic and 
comparatively modern history. It appears, too, that in 
Italy there was a substratum of Celts before the Lithu- 
anians arrived there ; and that the Sclavonian Pelasgians, 
having subsequently entered the country, absorbed the 
Lithuanian element into their own language in the north- 
ern half of the peninsula, whereas in the south, and espe- 
cially on the banks of the Tiber, the Lithuanian ingredient 
predominated, and most materially affected the kindred 
Pelasgian idiom of ancient Latium. 

If it is necessary to go one step further, and identify § 17. 
this Lithuanian race with some one of the tribes which 



probably a 



1 By a singular change, the name of the kindred Sclavonians, which in 
the oldest remains of the language signifies "celebrated," "illustrious" 
(from plava, "glory," root flu, Sanscr. gru, Gr. k\v- : see 'Safafik and 
Palacky's litest. Denkm. der Bohm. Spr. pp. 63, 140), has furnished the 
modern designation of " a slave," esclave, schiavo. The Bulgarians, whom 
Gibbon classes with the Sclavonians (vii. p. 279, ed. Milman), have been 
still more unfortunate in the secondary application of their name (Gibbon, x. 
p. 177). 



46 AFFINITIES OF THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. [Ch. II. 

branch of the form so many links of the chain between Media and 
m ily, Thrace, it would be only reasonable to select the Sauro- 

matce, whose name receives its interpretation from the 
Lithuanian language {Szaure-Mateni, i. e. " Northern 
Medes). The Sauromataa and the Scythae were undoubt- 
edly kindred tribes ; x but still there were some marked 
differences between them, insomuch that Herodotus reck- 
ons the Sarmatas as a separate nation. Between the Pe- 
lasgians and the Umbrians, &c. there existed the same 
affinities, with similar differences ; and the ethnographer 
may acquiesce in the satisfactory assurance that he has 
Lithuanians by the side of Sclavonians — Sarmatians dwell- 
ing in the neighbourhood of Scythians — on the north of 
the Euxine, on the south coast of the Baltic, and in the 
richer and more genial peninsula of Italy. 

The present inhabitants of Sarmatia are the Cossacks ; 
a word which many derive from the ethnic name Sacce. 
Whatever may be the origin of the term, it is clear that 
it is no longer a national name ; for Cossacks, or " free- 
booting light troops," are found in the Turkish as well as 
in the Russian armies. The Cossacks who occupy the ter- 
ritory of the ancient Sarmatas are Sclavonians. 

1 As general designations, the names Sarmatian and Sclavonian are 
co-extensive, and include the Scythians as well as the Sauromatse. In speak- 
ing, however, of the Scythians of Herodotus, we are obliged to take the name 
Sauromatce in a somewhat narrower sense. It is true that some confusion 
may be created by this change in the application of ethnical names ; for we 
must also limit the name Sclavonian, if we wish to oppose it to the term 
Lithuanian. But these difficulties will always beset the terminology of the 
ethnographer, who has to deal with names as vague and fleeting as the tra- 
ditions with which they are connected. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE AS EXHIBITED IN THE 
EUGUBINE TABLES. 

§ 1. The Eugubine Tables. § 2. Peculiarities by which the old Italian 
alphabets were distinguished. § 3. The sibilants. § 4. Some remarks 
on the other letters. § 5. Umbrian grammatical forms. § 6. Selections 
from the Eugubine Tables, with explanations : Tab. I. a, 1. § 7. Tab. I. 
a, 2-6. § 8. Tab. I. b, 13, sqq. § 9. Extracts from the Litany in 
Tab. VI. a. § 10. Umbrian words which approximate to their Latin 
synonymes. § 11. The Todi inscription contains four words of the same 
class. 

From the preceding investigations it appears that the § 1. 

original inhabitants of ancient Italy may be divided into Tables!^ "^ 
two great classes, one of which entered the peninsula 
before the other. It is not necessary to speak here of 
the Celts, who formed the substratum in all the insular 
and peninsular districts of Europe; but confining our 
attention to the more important ingredients of the popu- 
lation, we find only two — the Lithuanians and the Scla- 
vonians. To the former belonged the Umbrians, Oscans, 
and, the connecting link between them, the Sabines ; to 
the latter the Etruscans, and all the various ramifications 
of the Pelasgian race. 

The next step will be to examine in detail some of 
the fragmentary remains of the language spoken by these 
ancient tribes. The Umbrian claims the precedence, not 
only on account of the copiousness and importance of the 
reliques of the language, but also because the Umbrians 
must be considered as the most important and original of 



48 THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE [Ch. III. 

all those ancient Italian tribes with whom the Pelasgians 
became intermixed either as conquerors or as vassals. 

The Eugubine Tables, which contain a living speci- 
men of the Umbrian language, were discovered in the 
year 1444 in a subterraneous chamber at La Schieggia, 
in the neighbourhood of the ancient city of Iguvium (now 
Gubbio or Ugubio), which lay at the foot of the Apen- 
nines, near the via Flaminia (Plin. H. N. xxiii. 49). On 
the mountain, which commanded the city, stood the temple 
of Jupiter Apenninus ; and from its connexion with the wor- 
ship of this deity the city derived its name : — Iguvium, 
Umbr. Iiovium, i. e. Iovium, Alov, A to? ttoXls. The Ta- 
bles, which are seven in number, and are in perfect pre- 
servation, relate chiefly to matters of religion. From the 
change of s in those of the Tables which are written in 
the Etruscan or Umbrian character, into r in those which 
are engraved in Roman letters, Lepsius infers (de Tabb. 
Eugub. p. 86, sqq.) that the former were written not later 
than a.u.c. 400; for it appears that even in proper names 
the original s began to be changed into r about a.u. c. 
400 (see Cic. ad Famil. ix. 21. comp. Liv. iii. cap. 4, 8. 
Pompon, in Digg. i. 2, 2, § 36. Schneider, Lat. Gr. i. 1, 
p. 341, note) ; and it is reasonable to suppose that the 
same change took place at a still earlier period in common 
words. By a similar argument, derived chiefly from the 
arbitrary insertion of h between two vowels in the Tabula 
Latine scriptcs, Lepsius infers (p. 93) that these were writ- 
ten about the middle of the sixth century a.u.c, i. e. at 
least two centuries after the Tabulce Umbrice scriptcs. 

§ 2. Before, however, we turn our attention to these Ta- 

wSch fte old 7 ^ es > an( * ^ ie f° rms °f wor ds which are found in them, it 
Italian alpha- w ij] De advisable to make a few remarks on the alphabet 

bets were dis- 

tinguished. which was used m ancient Italy. 

The general facts with regard to the adaptation of the 



§3.] 



IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. 



49 



Semitic alphabet to express the sounds of the Pelasgian 
language have been discussed elsewhere. 1 It has there 
been shewn that the original sixteen characters of the 
Semitic syllabarium were the following twelve : — 



Breathings. 


Labials. 


Palatals. 


Dentals. 


Tenues. 

Aspirates. 
Medials. 


S 


a 


3 


1 


n 


i 


n 


V) 


V 


D 


P 


n 



with the ^addition of the three liquids, \>, », 3, and the 
sibilant D ; and it has been proved that these sixteen were 
the first characters known to the Greeks. They were not, 
however, sufficient to express the sounds of the old lan- 
guages of Italy even in the earliest form in which they pre- 
sent themselves to us. The Umbrian alphabet contains 
twenty letters ; the Oscan as many ; the Etruscan and 
the oldest Latin alphabets nineteen. In these Italian al- 
phabets some of the original Semitic letters are omitted, 
while there is a great increase in the sibilants ; for whereas 
the original sixteen characters furnish only the sibilants 
s and th, the old Italian alphabets exhibit not only these, 
but sh or x, z, r, and r. Of these additional sibilants, 
x is the Hebrew shin, z is zade, r represents resh, and r 
is an approximation to the sound of 6. 



As these sibilants constitute the distinguishing feature 
in the old Italian languages, it will be useful to speak 
more particularly of them, before we turn to the other 
letters. 

(a) The primary sibilant s, as used by the Umbrians 



1 N. Crat. p. 
E 



sqq. 



§3. 

The sibilants. 



50 THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE [Ch. III. 

and Oscans, does not appear to have differed, either in 
sound or form, from its representative in the Greek 
alphabet. 

(b) The secondary sibilant z, in the Umbrian and 
Etruscan alphabets, appears to have corresponded to only 
one of the two values of the Greek f. The latter, as we 
have proved elsewhere, was not only the soft g or j, or 
ultimately the sound sh, but also equivalent to the com- 
bination sd, or ultimately, by assimilation, to ss. Now the 
Romans expressed the first sound of the Greek £ either 
by di or by j, and its ultimate articulation (sh) by x ; 
whereas, on the other hand, they represented ^=aS 
either by a simple s, or by its Greek assimilation ss. 
Thus the Etruscan Kanzna, Venzi, Kazi, Veliza, are 
written in Latin Ccesius, Vensius, Cassius, Vilisa, and 
ZdicvvOos becomes Saguntus ; while the Greek pd^a, 
fjuv^co, o/3pv£ov, 7tvti^€lv, dvayfcd^ecv, Kcofjid^etv, may be 
compared with massa, musso, obrussa, pgtissare, necesse, 
comissari. In the Eugubine Tables, words which in the 
Umbrian characters exhibit a z, give us a corresponding 
s in those which are written with Latin letters. Thus, for 
the proper name Iapuzkum, as it is written in Umbrian 
characters, we have in the Latin letters labushe, Iabus- 
Jcer, &c. 

(c) The aspirated Umbrian sibilant s, for which the 
Oscans wrote x, expressed the sound sh (Germ, sch, Fr. 
ch), which was the ultimate articulation of the other sound 
of the Greek £". We may compare it with the Sanscrit 
S[T (c) ; and, like that Sanscrit sibilant and the Greek £, 
it often appears as a softened guttural. Thus we find 
prusesetu for prusekatu, Lat. pro-secato ; and the termi- 
nation -Ma, -Me, -Mu (Lat. -culum), often appears as -sla, 
-sle, -slu. As in our own and other languages the gut- 
turals are softened before the vowels e and i, so in Um- 
brian the guttural k generally becomes s before the same 



§3.] IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. 51 

vowels. The sibilant s occurs only in contact with vowels, 
liquids, and h; and the prefix an-, which drops the n be- 
fore consonants, retains it before vowels and s. 

(d) The letter r is always to be regarded as a second- 
ary or derived character. In Umbrian it generally repre- 
sents, at the end of a word, the original sibilant s. When 
the Eugubine Tables are written in Etruscan characters, 
we have such forms as, veres treplanes, tutas Ikuvinas ,- but 
in those which give us Latin letters, we read verir treplanir, 
totar Ijovinar. This change is particularly observable in 
the inflexions of the Latin passive verb ; and the Latin 
language, in other forms, uses the letter r in the same 
way as the Umbrian. In fact, the most striking charac- 
teristic of the Umbrian language is, its continual employ- 
ment of the secondary letters r and h, both of which are 
ultimately derived from sibilants. The former is used in 
Umbrian, not only in the verb-forms, as in Latin, but also 
in the declensions, in the Latin forms of which it only 
occurs in the gen. plural. The letter h is often interposed 
between vowels both in Umbrian and in Latin. Thus we 
have in Umbrian the forms stahito, pihatu, for stato, piato, 
and Naharcum derived from Nar ; and in Latin, ahenus, 
vehemens, cohors, melie (Quinctil. i. 5, 2), by the side of 
aeneus, vemens (compare ve-cors, cle-mens), cors, me; and 
even Deheberis for Tiberis: but this, as has been men- 
tioned above, refers to a later epoch both in Umbrian and 
Latin (see Lepsius, de Tabb. Eug. p. 92, and Schneid. Lat. 
Gr.i. 1, p. 118, not. 187). 

(e) The sibilant r is peculiar to the Umbrians. In the 
Latin transcription it is often represented by the combina- 
tion rs. Sometimes, however, it seems to stand for si, as in 
festira=vestisia; and it also serves as the ultimate assibi- 
lation of a guttural, for tera=dersa and tesva=dersva are 
connected with dica and dextra. Its real pronunciation 
was probably similar to that of 0, which last occurs only 



5 C 2 THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE [Ch. III. 

twice in the Eugubine Tables. The frequent substitution 
of r for d in Latin indicates a change to that letter through 
the softened dental 6, and we often find R where we should 
expect a dental, as in furenr =furent, ka<pire=capide, ar- 
veitu = advehito, See. Although r is sometimes represented 
by rs, we also occasionally find this letter followed by s, as 
in the words eturstamu, mers, which in the Latin character 
are written eturstahmu, mers. 

Of the other letters it will not be necessary to say much. 
The most remarkable is the Oscan vowel i, which in the 
inscriptions appears as a mutilated f; thus, *. The same 
figure was adopted by Claudius to express the middle sound 
between i and u with which the Romans pronounced such 
words as virtus, vigere, and scribere. In Oscan it appears 
to have been either a very light i (and so distinguished from 
the vowel I, which generally represents the long i of the 
Romans), or else a very short u. In the Oscan inscrip- 
tions i is of more frequent occurrence than i. Whenever 
these vowels come together, i always precedes, i is almost 
invariably used to form the diphthongs ui, ai, ei, answer- 
ing to the Greek ot (w), ai (a), and et ; and i very rarely 
appears before two consonants. 

The Oscan letter u' stands to u in the same relation as 
this i to the Oscan I. The former seems to be a sort of 
very light o, which is substituted for it in those inscriptions 
which are written in the Latin character ; whereas the let- 
ter u seems to represent the long o of the Latins, as in -urn 
(Gr. -<ov) for orum, liM-tud for lice-to, kvaisstur for quces- 
tor, &c. 

The Umbrians and Oscans distinguished between u and 
v. The latter was a consonant, and was pronounced like 
our w. It was written as a consonant after k ; but the 
vowel u was preferred, as in Latin, after q. 

The letters l and b were of rare occurrence in the 



§ 5.] IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. 53 

Umbrian language. The former never stands at the be- 
ginning of a word, the latter never at the end of one. In 
the Oscan language we meet with l more frequently. 

As the Etruscan alphabet had no medials, those of the 
Eugubine Tables which are written in Etruscan characters 
substitute k for g, e. g. Krapuvi for Grabove. But the 
Oscan and Umbrian inscriptions when written in Latin 
characters distinguish between the tenuis and medial gut- 
turals, according to the marks introduced by Sp. Carvilius, 
viz. C, G. 

In the Oscan alphabet d is represented as an inverted 
r ; and the affinity between these letters in the Latin lan- 
guage is well known. 

The labial p, which never terminates a word in Latin, 
stands at the end of many mutilated forms both in Umbrian 
and Oscan, as in the Umbrian vitlup for vitulibus (vitulis), 
and the Oscan nep for neque. In general, it is to be re- 
marked that the letters p, f, r, s, d, and t, all occur as 
terminations of Umbrian or Oscan words. 

The grammatical forms of the Umbrian language are § 5. 

very instructive ; and the author of these pages has already m^caffomsT 
made use of them in the solution of the most difficult pro- 
blem in Latin etymology, — the person-endings of the pas- 
sive voice (see New Cratylus, p. 445). In Umbrian we see 
the secondary letter r, that important element in the forma- 
tion of Latin words, not only regularly used in the forma- 
tion of the cases and numbers of nouns which in Latin 
retain their original s, but also appearing in plural verb- 
forms by the side of the primitive s, which is retained in 
the singular, though the Latin has substituted the r in 
both numbers. The following are the three declensions of 
Umbrian nouns, according to the scheme given by Muller 
(Gotting. Gel. Anz. 1838, p. 58) : 



54 



THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE 



[Ch. III. 



II. Decl. Poplus, a people. 



I. Decl. Tota, a city. 

Nom. tota. poplus. 

Gen. tota-r. pople-r. 

Dat. tote. pople. 

Accus. totam. poplo-m. 

A.bl. tota. poplu. 

III. Decl. Ocri-s, a mountain. Nom.e, a name. 

Nom. ocri(s). nome. 

Gen. ocre-r. nomner. 

Dat. ocre. nomne. 

Accus. ocrem. nome. 

Abl. ocri. nome. 

Besides these cases, the Umbrian has a locative, which 
ends sometimes in -e, and sometimes in -m or -me. Simi- 
larly the ancient Latin has two locatives, one in e=ai or ei, 
the other in -im. It is a question among philologers (below, 
p. 59), whether the -f at the end of plural nouns is a mark 
of the accusative, or whether it stands as a mutilated ele- 
ment of-<f>i, -<j>iv, -bi, -bus (see New Cratylus, p. 321). The 
latter is the more reasonable supposition. At all events, 
this must be the force of kute-f=caute, which stands by 
the side of the locative sevum. The genitive plural seems 
to end in -rum, like the Latin (iii. 2). 

The verbs generally occur in the imperative mood, as 
might be expected, since the Tables contain chiefly prayers 
and injunctions about praying. In these imperatives we 
mostly recognise a singular in -tu, and a plural in -tutu ; as 
fu-tu (vi. a, 30, &c), and fu-tutu (vi. b, 61), corresponding 
to es-to, es-tote. Verbs of the -a conjugation seem occa- 
sionally to make their imperative in -a, like the Latin. 
See i. b, 33 : pune purtinsus, haretu ; pufe apruffakurent, 
puze erus tera ; ape erus terust, pustru kupifiatu : where, 
though the meaning of particular words may be doubtful, 
the construction is plain enough : postquam consecraveris (?), 



§ 6.] IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. 55 

ccedito (scil. popa) ; ubi apris fecerint, ibi preces (? comp. 
apas) dica; quando preces dicaverit, bitumine (? (paxTrpm) 
com-piato. We often have the perf. subj. both singular 
and plural, as may be seen in the example just quoted. 
The pres. subj. too occasionally appears, the person-ending 
in the singular being generally omitted, as in arsie for ar- 
sies = ad-sies, and habia for habeas. The old infinitive, 
or supine as it is called, is used in Umbrian ; and we often 
find the auxiliary perfect both in the singular and in the 
plural. See vi. b, 30 : perse touer peskier vasetom est,pese- 
tom est, peretum est, frosetom est, daetom est, touer peskier 
virseto avirseto vas est : i. e. quoniam bonis precibus vaca- 
tum est, pacatum est, paratum est, rogatum est, datum est, 
bonis precibus vertere, avertere fas est. And we have not 
only skrehto est, but also skreihtor sent (vi. a, 15). The 
active participle seems to end both in -ens, like the Latin, 
and also in -is, like that of the Greek verbs in -fit. The 
following are the forms of habeo which are found in the 

Tables : 

Pres. Indic. 

3. sing. habe[t] (i. b, 18; vi. b, 54). 

Pres. Subj. 
2. sing. habia[s] (v. a, 17). 

Pret. Subj. 

2. sing, habiest (vi. b, 50) ; habus (habueris) (vi. b, 40). 

3. plur. haburent (vii. a, 52). 

Imperat. 
2. sing, habitu (vi. a, 19) ; or habetu (ii. a, 23). 
2. plur. habituto (vi. b, 51); or habetutu (i. b, 15). 

In interpreting the remains of the Umbrian language, § "• 

,.,,., iin Selections from 

it seems advisable, m the present state ot our knowledge, the Eugubine 

that we should confine our attention to those passages expirations. 



56 THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE [Ch. III. 

which fall within the reach of a scientific philological exa- 
mination. Grotefend, 1 indeed, has frankly and boldly pre- 
sented us with a Latin version of all the Eugubine Tables ; 
but although he has here and there fallen upon some happy 
conjectures, his performance is for the most part mere 
guesswork of the vaguest kind, and therefore, for all pur- 
poses of scholarship, uninstructive and unsatisfactory. Las- 
sen, by attempting less, has really effected more. 2 

The following extracts are selected from the admirable 
transcripts of Lepsius, and the arrangement of the Tables 
is that which he has adopted. The first four Tables, and 
part of the fifth, are written in the Etruscan or Umbrian 
character. The others are in Latin letters. 

Tab. La, 1. This Table and its reverse contain the 
rules for twelve sacrifices to be performed by the Fratres 
Atiersii in honour of the twelve gods. The same rules are 
given in Tables vi. and vii. and in nearly the same words, 
the differences being merely dialectical ; but the latter Tables 
add the liturgy to be used on the occasion, and also dwell 
at greater length on the auguries to be employed, &c. The 
first Table begins as follows : 

Este persklum aves anzeriates enetu, 2. per- 
naies pasnaes. 

And in VI. a, 1 1 , we have : 

1 Rudimenta Linguce Umbrica:, Particulse viii. Hannov. 1835-1839. 

5 Beitrage zur Deutung der Eugubinischen Tafeln, in the Rhein. Mus. 
for 1833, 4. Of earlier interpretations it is scarcely necessary to speak. It 
may, however, amuse the reader to know that the recent attempt of a worthy 
herald, in the sister island, to prove that pure Irish was spoken hy the an- 
cient Umbrians and Tuscans, has its parallel in a book published at Ypres in 
1614, by Adriaen Schrieck, who finds the ancient language of his own country 
in the seventh Eugubine Table! {Van 't Beghin der eerster Volcken van 
Europen, t'Ypre, 1614.) The Irish book, however, is the more elaborately 
ridiculous of the two : indeed, it is the most wonderful discovery of the ovov 
irSices which is known to the writer of these pages. 



§ 6.] IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. 57 

Este persklo aveis aseriater enetu. 

There can be little doubt as to the meaning of these 
words. Este, which is of constant recurrence in the Tables, 
is the loc. sing, of the pron. est, " that of yours," = isto, 
agreeing with persklum or persklo, the locative of persklum 
=preq-culum, " a prayer." Grotefend derives this noun 
from purgo, and translates it by " lustrum." But pur-go is 
a compound of purus and ago (comp. castigo, &c), whereas 
the root pers-, signifying " pray," is of constant occurrence 
in Umbrian ; and every one, however slightly conversant 
with etymology, understands the metathesis in a case of 
this kind. It is the same root as prec- in Lat., prach'- in 
Sanscr., frag-en in Germ., &c. 

The adj. anzeriates or aseriater seems to be rightly ex- 
plained by Grotefend. The Salian songs were called axa- 
menta or anxamenta, from axo=nomino (Fest. p. 8; see 
Turneb. Advers. xxii. 25), or from anxare=cantare : and 
Jovis Axur or Anxur, the beardless god of Terracina, seems 
to have been no other than " Jove's augur," i. e. Apollo ; 
for Aibs TTpofyrjTrjs iarl Aotjla? Trarpos (iEschyl. Eumen. 
19). Consequently aves anzeriates are aves quae cantant 
vel nominant, i. e. " augurial birds." 

Enetu seems to be the imper. of ineo, for in-ito, and 
signifies indagare or inquirere in. 

The adjectives per-naies, pus-naes, are derived from 
per-ne, post-ne, which are locative forms of the prepositions 
prce and post, and signify " at the southern and northern 
side of the temple." The birds are so defined with re- 
ference to the practice of the augurs in such cases. See 
Varro, L.L. vii. § 7, p. 119, Miiller: " quocirca ccelum, 
qua attuimur, dictum templum .... Ejus templi partes iv. 
dicuntur, sinistra ab oriente, dextra ab occasu, antica ad 
meridiem, postica ad septentrionem." 

The meaning of the whole passage will therefore be : 



58 THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE [Ch. III. 

" At that supplication of yours, inquire of the augurial 
birds, those in the south, as well as those in the north." 



§ 7. Tab. I. a, 2. 

Tab. I. a, 2-6. 



Pre-veres treplanes 3. Iuve Krapuvi tre[f~] 
buffetu, arvia ustenta, 4. vatuva ferine feitu, 
heris vinu, heri\s~] puni, 5. ukriper Fisiu, tuta- 
per Ikuvina, feitu sevum, 6. kutef pesnimu ; 
arepes arves. — Comp. vi. a, 22. Pre-vereir 
treblaneir luue Grabovei buf treif fetu. vi. 
b, 1. Arviofetu, uatuo ferine fetu, poni fetu, 
3. okriper Fisiu, totaper Iiovina. 

The words pre-veres (vereir) treplanes (treblaneir) are 
easily explained in connexion with (7) pus-veres treplanes, 
(11) pre-veres tesenakes, (14) pus-veres tesenakes, (20) pre- 
veres vehiies, (24) pus-veres vehiies. It is obvious that 
these passages begin with the prepositions pre, " before," 
and ptts=post, " after," and that they fix the point of 
time. The prepositions per, signifying " for," and co or 
ku, signifying " with," are placed after the word which 
they govern : thus we have tuta-per Ikuvina = " pro urbe 
Iguvina" vocu-com Ioviu = " cum foco JovioT But the 
prepositions pre and pus precede, and it seems that they 
both govern the ablative, contrary to the Latin usage, 
which places an accus. after ante and post. The word veres 
(vereir) is the abl. plur. of a noun verus (cf. i. b, 9), corre- 
sponding in root and signification to the Latin ferice. The 
v answers to the /, as vocus, vas, &c. for focus, fas, &c. 
Lassen (Rhein. Mus. 1833, p. 380, sqq.) refers treplanes, 
tesenakes, vehiies, to the numerals tres, decern, and viginti. 
Grotefend, more probably, understands the adjectives as 
describing the carriages used at the particular feasts. 
Cato (R. R. c. 135) mentions the trebla as a rustic car- 



§ 7.] IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. 59 

riage. Tensa is the well-known name of the sumptuous 
processional chariot in which the images of the gods were 
carried to the pulvinar at the ludi Circenses (Festus, 
p. 364, Miiller) j 1 and veia was the Oscan synonym for 
plaustrum (Festus, p. 368, Miiller). It is, therefore, not 
unreasonable to suppose, that at theferits treblancs the ex- 
piatory sacrifices were carried for distribution in trebles ; at 
the ferite tesenakes the statues of the gods were conveyed 
to their pulvinar in tenses ; and at the f erics vehice chariot- 
races were held, as at the Roman circus. In the Latin 
Table the adj. derived from tesna or tensa ends in -ox -ocis, 
like velox ; in the Umbrian it ends in -ax -acis, like capax. 

The epithet Krapuvius, or in the Latin Table Gra-bov- 
ius, according to Lassen signifies " nourisher or feeder of 
cattle." The first syllable, he supposes, contains the root 
gra-, implying growth and nourishment, and found in the 
Sanscr. grd-ma (signifying either " a herd of feeding cat- 
tle" — grex — or vicus inter pascua), in the Lat. grd-men, 
in the Goth, gras, and in the old Nord. groa = virescere. 
Lassen, too, suggests that Gradivus contains the same root. 
This comparison ought perhaps to have led him to the true 
explanation of both words. For it is manifest that Gra- 
divus— gravis or grandis Divus; and it is equally certain 
that no genuine Latin compound begins with a verbal root. 
If, therefore, Gra-bovius contains the root of bos, bovis, the 
first syllable must be the element of the adjective gravis 
or grandis ; so that Grabovius will be a compound of the 
same kind as KaXXi7rdp0evo<; (see Lobeck, Paralip. p. 372). 
Pott, however, (Et. Forsch. ii. p. 201) considers Grab-ovius 
as another form of Gravi-Jovius. 

Tre or treif buf is either boves tres or bobus tribus. If 
we have here the accus. plural, we must conclude that this 

1 For the metathesis tesna or tesena for tensa we may compare mesene 
flusare in an inscription found near Amitemum (Leps. Tab. xxvii. 46), with 
mense flusare in the Latin inscription quoted by Muratori (p. 587). 



60 THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE [Ch. III. 

case in the Umbrian language ends in -af, -of, -uf, -ef -if, 
-eif, according to the stem ; and the labial termination may 
be compared with the Sanscrit and Zend change of s into u 
at the end of a word (Wilkins, § 51. Bopp, § 76). This is 
the opinion of Lassen (Rhein. Mus. 1833, p. 377). Accord- 
ing to Lepsius and Grotefend, on the other hand, all these 
words are ablatives ; and it is obvious that the termination 
is more easily explained on this hypothesis. There is not 
much force, however, in the argument that these words 
must be ablatives because verbs signifying " to sacrifice " 
are construed with the ablative in good Latin (Virg. Eclog. 
iii. 77. Hor. Carm. i. 4, 11). For it is quite clear that 
abrons is an accusative, like the Gothic vulfans (see Chap. 
VIII. § 4), and yet we have both abrons fakurent (vii. a, 43) 
and abroffetu (vii. a, 3). See also Pott, Et. Forsch. ii. p. 202. 

Feitu (fetu) is simply facito, the guttural being softened 
down, as in ditu for dicito (vi. b, 10, &C.). 1 

Arvia seems to be the same as the Latin arvina, i. e. 
" the hard fat which lies between the skin and the flesh " 
(Servius ad Virg. JEn. vii. 627) ; and ustentu is probably 
obstineto, which was the old Latin for ostendito (Festus, 
p. 197, Miill.). 

Vatuva ferine feitu must mean " offer up unsalted meal" 
{fatuam farinam or fatud farina), according to Nonius 
Marcellus, iv. 291 (quoting Varro, de Fit. Pop. Horn. lib. i.) : 
quod calend. Jun. et publice et privatim fatuam pultem diis 
mactat. Grotefend supposes that ferine must mean raw 
flesh, and not farina, because " bread" (puni) is mentioned 
in the passage. But in minute directions like these, a dif- 
ference would be marked between the meal (akevpa) and 
the bread (apro?) ; just as the hard fat (arvina) is distin- 
guished from the soft fat (adipes), if the interpretation 
suggested below is to be admitted. 

Heris vinu, heris puni, " either with bread or wine." 

1 According to Pott and Lepsius this imperative stands for fito=fiat. 



§ 7.] IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. 61 

Heris, as a particle of choice, is derived from the Sanscr. 
root hri, " to take ;" Lat. Mr, " a hand," &c. ; and may be 
compared with vel, which is connected with the root of 
volo, as this is with the root of alpico. In fact, heris 
appears to be the participle of the verb, of which the im- 
perative is heritu (vi. a, 27, &c). This verb occurs in the 
Oscan also (Tab. Bantin. 12, &c). 

That ocriper (ucriper) Fisiu means " for the Fisian 
mount" may be demonstrated from Festus, p. 181, Miil- 
ler : " Ocrem antiqui, ut Ateius philologus in libro Glos- 
sematorum refert, montem confragosum vocabant, ut aput 
Livium : Sed qui sunt hi, qui ascendunt altum ocrim ? et : 
celsosque ocris, arvaque putria et mare magnum, et : namque 
Tcenari celsos ocris. et: haut ut quern Chiro in Pelio docuit 
ocri. Unde fortasse etiam ocreae sint dictse inaequaliter 
tuberatae." From this word are derived the names of 
some Umbrian towns, e. g. Ocriculum and Interocrea (cf. 
Inter amnd). The epithet Fisius indicates that the moun- 
tain was dedicated to the god Fisius or Fisovius Sansius 
(Fidius Sancus), a name under which the old Italians wor- 
shipped Jupiter in their mountain-temples. Lassen (p. 388) 
refers to this temple the following lines of Claudian (de 
VI. Cons. Honor. 503, 4) : 

Exsuperans delubra Iovis, saxoque minantes 
Apenninigenis cultas pastoribus aras. 

He also quotes from the Peutinger inscription : " Iovis 
Penninus, idem Agubio," where Iguvium is obviously re- 
ferred to. Lepsius thinks that ocris Fisius was the citadel 
of Iguvium. 

Tota-per (tuta-per) Ikuvina, " for the city of Iguvium." 
It was always understood by previous interpreters that tuta 
or tota was nothing more than the fern, of the Lat. totus. 
But Lepsius has clearly proved that it is both an Oscan 
and an Umbrian substantive, signifying " city," from which 
the adj. tuti-cus is derived, as in the name of the magistrate 



OX THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE [Ch. III. 

rneddix tuticus, i. e. consul urbanus : consequently tuta-per 
Ikuvina is simply "pro urbe Igtwina." This substantive, 
tota or tuta, is, no doubt, derived from the adject, totus ,- 
for the idea of a city is that of " fulness," " collection," 
" entirety." Similarly, the Greek iroXis must contain the 
root 7ro\- [iro\-v<i) or irXe- (7rA-eo?), signifying the aggrega- 
tion of the inhabitants in one spot. The derivation of the 
adjective to-tus is by no means easy; but if we compare it 
with in-vi-tus (from vel-le), we may be disposed to connect 
it with the root of the words tel-lus, tol-lo, ter-ra, ter-minus 
(reX-os, rep-fid), &c. Op-pidum, another name for " city," 
is only " a plain" (ob-ped-um= eirhrehov) ; and oppido, " en- 
tirely "=m toto, is synonymous with p lane. The student 
will take care not to confuse between this to-tus and the 
reduplicated form to-tus (comp. to-t-, quo-tus, Sec), which 
is sufficiently distinguished from it in the line of Lucretius 
(vi, 652) : 

Nee tota pars homo terra'i quota tdtius unus. 

Sevum and kutef are two adverbs. The former signifies 
" with reverence," and contains the root sev- (sev-erus) or 
<76/3- (a-eftai). The latter is derived from cav-eo, cautus, 
with the affix -/= $1, and means " cautiously." 

The words arepes arves or ariper arvis, which conclude 
almost every prescription in the first Table, are not very 
easy. That Grotefend's translation pro ardore s. ustione 
arvigce is inadmissible, every sound philologer must at once 
concede. The following suggests itself as the most pro- 
bable solution. It appears that the Umbrian participle 
generally ended in -es, -ez, or -eis, like the old Greek 
participle of verbs in -fit. Thus we have tases, tasis, and 
tasez, for tacens, Vesteis, too, is obviously a participle 
(vi. a, 22). As, then, we constantly find the imperative 
arveitu for advehito, we may surmise that arves, arvis, is 
the participle for advehens; and arepes, ariper, on the same 



§8.] IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. brf 

principle, will be adipes; so that the phrase will signify 
adipes advehens s. porrigens, i. e. " offering up the soft fat." 
Accordingly, the translation of the whole passage should 
run thus : " Before the feast, at which the trebles, are used, 
sacrifice three oxen to Jupiter Grabovius, offer up the hard 
fat, sacrifice with unsalted meal, either with wine or bread, 
for the Fisian mount, for the city of Iguvium, sacrifice 
reverently, pray cautiously, holding forth the soft fat of 
the victims." 

The next passage, which deserves notice and admits of § 8. 

a reasonable interpretation, is the following. Many of the a ' ' ' ' 
intervening sentences, however, are so like that which has 
just been examined, that they can cause no real difficulty 
to the student. In i. b, 13, we have 

enumeh steplatu parfam tesvam. 

The first word is a particle of connexion signifying 
inde, dein, " then," " in the next place." It is also written 
inumek, and seems to be compounded of inum (the Lat. 
enim) and eh ; compare the Gothic inuhthis, &c. 

Steplatu, stiplatu, and an-stiplatu, are the imperatives 
of a verb stiplo or anstiplo, which seems to be of proper ap- 
plication in matters of augury. In old Latin stipulus was 
synonymous with stabilis (Forcell. s. v. stipulatio) : conse- 
quently this verb must signify something like stahilio or 
firmo, which last word is used in speaking of omens (Virgil. 
Georg. iv. 386). 

Parfa, which occurs frequently in the Tables, is the 
augurial parra, a kind of owl, which the Italians in 
general call civetta, and the Venetians parruzza ; and 
tesva means on the right : as will appear from the fol- 
lowing considerations. At the beginning of the sixth 
Table we have, among the auspices, parfa Jcurnase der- 
sua, peiqu peica merstu ; which should seem to mean, 



64 THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE [Ch. III. 

parram, cornicem, dextras; picum, picam sinistros. The 
Roman augurs used to turn their faces to the south ; 
consequently the east was on their left, and the west on 
their right. The east was in general the seat of good 
omens; but in certain cases, and with certain birds, the 
bad omen of the west, or right hand, might be converted 
into good. They made a distinction between the birds 
which gave the omen by their note, and those which gave 
the omen by their flight; the former were called oscines, 
the latter alites. The parra and the picus were reckoned 
in both classes, according to Festus (p. 197, Miiller). In- 
deed there must have been some confusion among the 
augurs themselves, as Cicero seems to admit (de Divin. 
ii. 39) : " Haud ignoro, quae bona sint, sinistra nos dicere, 
etiamsi dextra sint; sed certe nostri sinistrum nomina- 
verunt, externique dextrum, quia plerumque melius id 
videbatur." Lutatius says, that the masculine gender 
indicates the propitious bird, and the feminine the un- 
propitious ; yet the Umbrians seem to have held the 
picus and the pica in equal estimation. In constituting 
a good omen, the Umbrians placed the picus on the left, 
and the comix on the right; while Plautus places them 
both on the left, but the parra on the right, as did the 
Umbrians (Asin. ii. 1, 11) : 

Impetriturn, inauguratum 'st : quovis admittunt aves, 
Picus, comix est ab lseva ; corvus, parra ab dextera. 

Prudentius, though not an Umbrian like Plautus, preserves 
the Umbrian order (Symmach. ii. 570) : 

Cur Cremerse in campis, cornice vel oscine parra, 
Nemo deum monuit perituros Marte sinistra 
Ter centum Fabios, vix stirpe superstite in uno ? 

Comp. also Horat. iii. Carm. xxvii. 1, &c. 

Tesva in the Table means " the right," and may be 
compared with the Gothic taihsvo. In the Latin Table 



§ 9.] IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. 65 

it is written dersua, which is nearer to the Lat. dextra. 
The same change is observable in ter a (i. b, 34) and dersa 
(vii. a, 43), which are equivalent to diea, and connected, 
therefore, with tesva dersva (N. Crat. p. 374). That mers- 
tus must mean " propitious" or "salutary," is clear from 
the passages in which it occurs, as well as from the use of 
mers. A few lines lower we have (i. b, 18) : sve-pis habe 
purtatutu pue mers est, feitu uru pere mers est. Comp. vi. 
b, 54 : so-pir habe esme pople portatu ulo pue mers est, fetu 
uru pirse mers est. The meaning seems to be : si quis ha- 
bet portatum aliquid ubi salutare est, facito ustionem prout 
salutare est. The etymology of mers is quite uncertain. 
Grotefend connects it with medicus, Lassen with merx. 

A complete examination of the whole of the Eugubine § 9. 

Tables does not fall within the limits of this work, and tue Litany in 
I will only add a few extracts from the Litany in the sixth Tab - VL a ° 
Table. 

VI. a: 22. Teio subokau suboko, 23. Dei 
Grabovi, okri-per Fisiu, tot a -per Iiovina, 
ever nomne-per, erar nomne-per; fos sei, 
paker[sei, okre Fisei, 24. Tote Bovine, erer 
nomne, erar nomne : 

i. e. te invocavi invoco, Jupiter Grabovi, pro monte Fisio, 
pro urbe Iguvina, pro illius nomine, pro hujus nomine; 
bonus sis, propitius sis, monti Fisio, urbi IguvimB, illius 
nomini, 



VI. a : 24. Arsie, tio subokau suboko, Dei 
Grabove : 

3 invocavi invoco. J. Gr. 



Arsier,frite tio subokau 25. suboko D. Gr. 
Here f-rite is written for rite, just as we have f-rango by 



66 THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE [Ch. III. 

the side of prjyvvjjii ; f-ragen, f-luo, as well as rogo, luo 
(Xovco) ; f-ragum, pa% ; f-renum, " rein ;" f-rigere, rigere ; 
&c. ; and in these tables probably f-ri for rus, f-rosetom for 
rogatum, &c. 

VI. a: 26. D. Gr., over ose, persei okre 
Fisie pir orto est, toteme Iovine arsmor der- 
sekor suhator sent, pusei nep lieritu. 

This passage is somewhat more difficult. It appears to 
me that the particles persei, pusei, mark the opposition 
of the protasis to the apodosis, " as" — " so," prout — ita. 
The chief difficulty here is in the word arsmo-r, which, 
however, occurs very frequently in the Tables. It is 
clearly the plural of arsmo. If we examine one of the 
numerous passages in which the word is found, we may be 
inclined to conjecture that it means a man or functionary 
of some sort. Thus in vi. a, 32, we have : D. Gr. salvo 
seritu okrer Fisier, totar Iiovinar nome ; nerf, arsmo, veiro, 
pequo, kastruo, fri, salva seritu; which must surely mean: 
/. Gr. salvum servato nomen ocris Fisii, urbis Iguvince, sal- 
vas servato vires . (i. e. nervos) arsmorum, virorum, pecuum, 
castrorum, ruris. Now Lassen has shewn (Rhein. Mus. 
1834, p. 151) that dersecor must be a derivative from dis- 
seco, and that, like mergus, vivus, from mergere, vivere, it 
must have an active signification. We have the verb der- 
seco=disseco in the form dersikust, dersikurent (dissecas- 
sit, dissecaverint). Consequently, arsmor dersecor must 
mean arsmi dissecantes, or dissicentes (for dissico, 3. conj., 
see Gronov. Lect. Plautin. p. 87). Suhator sent is either 
subacti sunt or subjecti sunt. On the whole, it is most pro- 
bable that arsmus means a priest ; but whether the word is 
derived from arceo, because the priest made atonement for 
the people, or from arcuma, because he rode in the little 
car so called, is quite uncertain. If this supposition be 
correct, we shall have no great difficulty in translating the 



§ 10.] IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. 67 

passage before us. Pir occurs so often in connexion with 
vuku= focus, asa=ara, uretu=urito, &c. that it must 
mean "fire." Orer is a deponent form of oro, after the 
analogy of precor. Ose is probably ore. Nep stands for 
nee, as in Oscan, but does not imply any disjunction : nor 
did nee or neg in old Latin; compare nee-lego, nec-quid- 
quam, &c, and see Festus, p. 162, sub w. neclegens and 
nee. Miiller (Suppl. Annot. p. 387) supposes that the dis- 
junctive nee or neque, and the negative nee or neg, were 
two distinct particles. To me it appears that nee or neg 
is never used for non except either as qualifying a single 
word — nec-opinans, neg-otium, — in a conditional clause, 
as in the passages quoted by Festus, and Cato R. R. 141, 
— or in a prohibition as here; in all which cases the 
Greeks used /xt] and not ov, and the Romans generally ne 
and not non. Nego is a peculiar case ; the Greeks said 
ov (j)7)fu oi/TW? 'ix eiV f° r 0*7 P l f 1 *! °vtu>s e^eiv: and the 
same principle may be applied to explain oi>% ■tjKia-ra, ov 
yap afieivov, &c. In a case like this the Romans seem 
to have used nee as qualifying and converting the whole 
word, in preference to non. Miiller supposes that negritu, 
quoted by Festus (p. 165) as signifying cegritudo in augu- 
rial language, stands for nec-ritu. I think it must be a 
corruption for ne-gritudo : see below, Ch. VII. § 5. He- 
ritu is the imper. of Jiri, " to take," and here seems to 
mean " attack" or " afflict." The whole passage then may 
be rendered: «7. Gr. precor prece, quoniam in ocri Fisio 
ignis ortus est, in urbe Iguvina sacerdotes dissecantes sub- 
missi sunt, — ita ne tu affligas. 

This may suffice as far as the direct interpretation of § 10. 
the Tables is concerned. In conclusion, it may be well to w jriciTapproxi- 
ffive a list of those words in the Umbrian language which ™ at . e to tlieir 

° . Latin syno- 

approach most closely to their Latin equivalents. And nymes. 
first, with respect to the numerals, which are the least 



68 THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE [Ch. III. 

mutable elements in every language. It is clear that tuves 

(duves), tuva (duva), and tris, treia, correspond to duo and 

tres, tria. Similarly tupler (dupler) and tripler represent 

duplus and triplus, and tuplak (iii. 14) is duplice. It is 

obvious, too, that petur is " four," as in Oscan ; see vi. b, 

10: du-pursus, petur-pursus, i.e. bifariam, quadrifariam. 

As to the ordinals, prumum is primum, etre (etrama) is 

alter, and tertie (tertiama) is tertius. 

The other words may be given in alphabetical order. 

Abrof (apruf) (vii. a, 3)=apros or apris ; ager (Tab. xxvii. 
21); alfu (i. b, 29) = albus (d\cf)6q); ander (anter) (vi. 
b, 47. i. b, 8)=inter (sim. in Oscan); angla or ankla 
(vi. a, l) = aquila (comp. anguis with e^t?, w?ic?a with 
vSeop, &c, see JVew Cratylus, p. 303) ; an-tentu (passim) 
= in-tendito ; ar-fertur (vi. a, 3) = ajfertur; arputrati 
(v. a, 12) = arbitratzi ; ar-veitu (i. b, 6) = advehito (cf. 
ar#e« and arves) ; asa (vi. a, 9, et passim) = ara ; Asiane 
(i. a, 25) = Asiano; atru (i. b, 29) = a£er; a»m (vi. a, 
1 ) = aves. 

Bue (vi. a, 26, et passim) =bove. 

Der-sikurent (vi. b, 62) = dissecaverint ; ditu (vi. b, 10) = 
dicito ; dupla (vi. b, 18), so also numer tupler (v. a, 
19) — comp. numer prever (v. a, 18) and numer tripler 
(v. a, 21). 

i£rw (v. a, 26) = erit. 

Famerias Pumperias (viii. a, 2) =z families Pompilice ; fera- 
klu (Miiller, Etrusk. i. p. 57, note) =ferculum; ferehtru 
(iii. 16)=feretrum ; ferine (i. a, 4) = farina ; f rater (v. 
b, 11). 

Homonus (v. b, 10) = homines. 

Ifont (vi. b, 55) = «6ww£ .• the same form occurs in Lucilius 
Afranius : comp. erafont (vi. b, 65), erahunt (i. b, 23), 
erarunt (iv. 1) ; all by-forms of the mutilated future 
erunt. 

Kapire (i. a, 29)= capide, " with a sacrificial jug ;" kaprum 



§ 11.] IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. 69 

(ii. a, 1) ; karne (ii. b, 1) ; hastruo (vi. a, 80, et passim) 
— castrorum; kuratu (v. a, 24) sve r elite kuratu si=si 
recte curatum sit; kvestur (v. a, 23)= quaestor. 

Naratu (ii. a, 8) = narrato (Varro wrote narare) ; wowe 
(passim) = nomen ; numer (v. a, 17). 

Omz (vi. b, 43), uve (ii. 6, 10) = ovis. 

Pase (vi. a, 30) =pace ; pater (ii. a, 24) ; pelsana (i. a, 26) 
= balsamon ; pihakler (v. a, 8)=piaculum; pihatu (vi. 
a, 9)=piato; pir (i. b, 12) = 7rvp,jlre ; poplo (passim) 
=populus ; porka (vii. a, 6)=porca; postro (vi. b, 5) 
= <f)u>crTpq> ; prokanurent (vi. a, l6)=procinerint; pro- 
seseto (vi. a, 56)=prosecato ; puemune (iii. 26)=^>omo- 
M; puprike (iii. 27)=publice ; pustertiu (i. b, 40) = 
^os£-£er^0. 

ifo/^e (v. a, 24) = recfe ; ruphra (i. b, 27) = rwora. 

Sakra (i. b, 29) ; safeo, salva, &c. (passim) ; senta (passim), 
either creatfo (iVew Crat. p. 444), or servato (Miiller, 
Etrusk. i. p. 55) ; sif (i. a, 7) = suibus ; skrehto (vii. b, 
3) = scriptus ; sopo (vi. b, 5) = sapone; stahitu (vi. b, 
56)= state- ; strusla (vi. a, 59) = stru-cula, dimin. of 
strues ; subator (vi. a, 27, &cc.) = subacti; suboko (vi. a, 
22, &c.) = sub-voco ; subra (v. a, 20) = szzpra ; sve (v. a, 
24)=Osc. sw«, Lat. si; seritu (ii. b, 24), vide seritu ; 
sesna (v. b, 9) = cesna, coena. 

Tafle (ii. a, 12)= tabula; tases (vi. a, 55)=tacens ; teku- 
ries (ii. a, \) = decurice ; termnu-ko (vi. b, 53) = cum 
termino ; tio (passim) = te. 

TJretu (iii. 12) = urito ; uvikum (iii. 28) = cum ove. 

Vas (vi. a, 28)= fas; vatuva (i. a, 4!)=fatua; veiro (vi. a, 
30) = virorum; vinu (passim) = vinum ; vitlu (ii. a, 21) 
=vitulus ; voku-kom (vi. b, 43) = cm)ifoco. 

In the year 1835 a bronze figure of a man in armour § 11. 
was discovered near Todi (Tuder), on the borders of Um- Option con- 
bria. The inscription, which was detected on the girdle tains four words 



70 THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE [Ch. III. 

of the same of the breast-plate, has been interpreted from the Greek, 
Latin, and Hebrew languages by a number of different 
scholars. It appears to me to contain four words, which 
may be added to the above list, as they are all explicable 
from the roots of the Latin language. The inscription 
runs thus : 

AHALTRVTITISPVNVMPEPE. 

The word titis occurs in the Eugubine Tables (i. b, 45), 
and punum is obviously the accusative of punus, another 
form of pune, punes, puni, which are known to be Umbrian 
words. It is true that the Latin synonym panis and the 
Eugubine words belong to the i-declension ; but that is 
no reason why we should not have a by-form of the o- 
declension, and that this form actually existed in Mes- 
sapia is well known (Athen. iii. p. Ill c. : 7ravbs apro? 
Mea-adTnoi). These two words being removed from the 
middle, the extremities remain, namely, ahaltru and pepe. 
With regard to the first it is to be observed that the 
lengthening of a syllable, by doubling the vowel and in- 
serting the letter h, is common in Umbrian (see Leps. 
de Tabb. Eugub. p. 92, sqq.), and the same practice is 
often remarked in Latin. Ahaltru, then, bears the same 
relation to the Latin alter that ahala bears to ala, nihil 
to nil, vehemens to vemens, &c. It is true that in the 
Eugubine Tables etre seems to represent the meaning, if 
not the form of alter; but this is no reason why there 
should not be the other equally genuine and ancient form 
alter, or ahalter, which is probably the more emphatic 
word in that language, and corresponds, perhaps, in mean- 
ing to the adjective alienus. The signification of the word 
pepe suggests itself from the context, and is also supported 
by analogy. It seems to be a reduplication of the root pa 
(pd-nis, pa-sco, ira-aao-Qai, ira-Teofxai, Sec), analogous to 
the reduplication of the root bi (or pi, ttl-voj, Sec.) in bir-bo. 
If the Sabines were a warrior tribe of Umbrians, it is rea- 



§ 11.] IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. 71 

sonable to conclude that their name for " a warrior" would 
be Umbrian also ; now we know that the Sabine name for 
" a warrior" was titus (Fest. p. 366, and below, p. 76), and 
the warrior tribe at Rome was called the Titienses (Liv. 
i. 13) ; accordingly, as the Umbrian Propertius calls these 
the Titles {El. iv. 1,31: Hinc Titles Ramnesque vlri Lu- 
ceresque colonl), 1 it is not an unfair assumption that tltls, 
pi. titles, was the Umbrian word for " a warrior." The 
inscription, then, will run thus : " the warrior eats an- 
other's bread ;" the position of alialtru being justified by 
the emphasis which naturally falls upon it. Compare 
Dante, Paradlso, xvii. 58-60 : 

Tu proverai si come sa di sale 

Lo pane altrui, et com' e duro calle 

Lo scendere e '1 salir per 1' altrui scale. 

This motto, then, either refers to the practice of serving as 
mercenaries, so common among the Italians, or expresses 
the prouder feeling of superiority to the mere agricultu- 
rist, which was equally characteristic of the oldest Greek 
warriors. Compare the scolion of Hybrias the Cretan (ap. 
Aihen. xv. 695 p.) : 

ecrri fj.01 ttXovtos (ityas 86pv na\ £i<pos 

teal rb Ka\bv \ai<ri{iov TrpSfiKriixa x§ UT 6s~ 

tovtw fxev apa>, rovTca 6epl£<o, 

rovrcf irariw rbv aSvv olvov air a[nre\a>, 

tovtcp 8ecrir6Ta.s /xvcpais KeK\r]fxai. 

rol Se /j.7] to\[xoovt ex eiv 5<fy>u kcu £i(pos, k. t. A. 

It is also to be remarked that the Lucumones, or " illus- 
trious nobles," among the Tuscans, seem to have distin- 
guished their plebeians as Aruntes (apovvres), i. e. mere 
ploughmen and agricultural labourers (Klenze, Phil. Ab- 
handlung. p. 39, note). In general the praenomen Aruns 
seems to be used in the old mythical history to designate 
an inferior person (Miiller, Etrusk. i. p. 405). 

1 Lucmo in v. 29 is an accurate transcription of the Etruscan Lauchme. 



CHAPTER IV, 

THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 

§ 1. The remains of the Oscan language must be considered as Sabellian 
also. § 2. Alphabetical list of Sabello-Oscan words, with their interpre- 
tation. § 3. The Bantine Table. § 4. Commentary on the Bantine 
Table. § 5. The " Atellame." 



The Oscan language is more interesting even than the 
Umbrian, and the remains which have come down to us are 
much more easily interpreted than the Eugubine Tables. 
Indeed, as Niebuhr has remarked (i. ad not. 212), " some 
of the inscriptions may be explained word for word, others 
in part at least, and that too with perfect certainty, and 
without any violence." This language had a literature of 
its own, and survived the Roman conquest of southern 
Italy. It was spoken in Samnium in the year 459 ; l it was 
one of the languages of Bruttium in the days of Ennius ; 2 
the greatest relique of Oscan is the Bantine Table, which 
was probably engraved about the middle of the seventh 
century ; and the Oscan was the common idiom at Hercu- 
laneum and Pompeii, when the volcano at once destroyed 
and preserved those cities. 

Although, as it has been shewn in a previous chapter, 
the Sabines must be regarded as a branch of the Umbrian 
stock, who conquered all the Ausonian nations, and though 
Varro 3 speaks of the Sabine language as different from the 

1 Liv. x. 20 : " gnaros lingum Osccb exploratum mittit." 

2 Festus, s. v. bilingues, p. 35 : " bilingues Bruttates Ennius dixit, quod 
Brutti et Osce et Graece loqui soliti sint." 

3 L. L. vii. § 3, p. 130, Miiller. Varro was born at Reate (see p. 301 of 
Midler's edition), and therefore, perhaps, attached peculiar importance to the 
provincialisms of the ager Sabinus. 



§ 1.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 73 

Oscan, yet, as all the remains of the Sabine and Oscan lan- 
guages belong to a period when the Sabellian conquerors 
had mixed themselves up with the conquered Ausonians 
and had learned their language, it seems reasonable that 
we should not attempt, at this distance of time, to discri- 
minate between them, but that, recognising generally the 
original affinity of the Umbrian and Oscan nations, we 
should consider the Sabine words which have been trans- 
mitted to us, as belonging, not so much to the Umbrian 
idiom, as to the complex Sabello-Oscan language, which 
prevailed throughout the whole of southern Italy. And 
this view of the matter is further justified by the fact, that 
a great many of these words are quoted, not only as Sa- 
bine, but also as Oscan. It is true that some particular 
words are quoted as Sabine, which are not found in Oscan 
inscriptions, and not known to be Oscan also ; but we can- 
not form any general conclusions from such isolated pheno- 
mena, especially as a great many of these words are Latin 
as well. All that it proves is simply this, that there were 
provincialisms in the Sabine territory properly so called. 
Still less can we think with Miiller (EtrusJc. i. p. 42), that 
the Sabine language is the un-Greek element in the Oscan ; 
for many of these words have direct connexions with Greek 
synonymes, as Miiller himself has admitted. There are 
no Sabine inscriptions as such. The Marsian inscription, 
quoted by Lanzi, and which Niebuhr thought unintelligible 
(i. 105, ad not. 333), is Oscan, if it ought not rather to be 
called old Latin. 

In the following observations, then, for the materials of 
which I am largely indebted to Professor Klenze {Philolo- 
gische Ahhandlungen, Berlin, 1839), the Sabine and Oscan 
will be treated in conjunction with one another. Before 
proceeding to consider the Oscan inscriptions, it may be 
well to give an alphabetical list of those words which are 
cited by old writers as Sabine, Oscan, or both. 



74 



THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 



[Ch. IV. 



Alpus, Sab. Fest. p. 4, Miiller : " Album, quod nos dici- 
mus, a Graeco, quod est a\<pov, est appellatum. Sabini 
tamen alpum dixerunt." 

Aurum, Sab. Fest. p. 9 : " Aurum — alii a Sabinis transla- 
tum putant, quod illi ausum dicebant." Vide Sol. 

Brutus, Osc. " A runaway slave," " a maroon." Strabo, 
vi. p. 255; Diod. xvi. 15. 

Cascus, Casinus, Casnar, Sab. Osc. Varro, L. L. vii. 
§ 28 : " Cascum significat vetus ; ejus origo Sabina, 
quae usque radices in Oscam linguam egit." § 29 : 
" Item ostendit quod oppidum vocatur Casinum; hoc 
enim ab Sabinis orti Samnites tenuerunt, et nunc nostri 
etiam nunc Casinum forum vetus appellant. Item sig- 
nificant in Atellanis aliquot Pappum senem, quod Osci 
Casnar appellant." These words probably contain the 
Sanscr. root cas-, " white," which also appears in Ka6a- 
pos, cas-tus, &c. Cdnus is also to be referred to this 
class (comp. co-esna, coena, &c), and stands related to 
candidus, as plenus does to s-plendidus. According to 
Pott (Etym, For sell. ii. 109), cas-nar is a compound 
word, containing the roots cas-, " old," and nri, " man." 

Catus, Sab. Varro, L. L. vii. § 46 : " Cata acuta; hoc enim 
verbo dicunt Sabini." 

Crepusculum, Sab. Varro, L. L. vi. § 5 : " Secundum hoc 
dicitur crepusculum a crepero. Id vocabulum sump- 
serunt a Sabinis, unde veniunt Crepusci nominati Ami- 
terno, qui eo tempore erant nati, ut Lucii prima luce. 
In Reatino crepusculum significat dubium ; ab eo res 
dictas dubiae creperee, quod crepusculum dies etiam nunc 
sit an jam nox, multis dubium." vii. § 77 : " Cre- 
pusculum ab Sabinis, quod id dubium tempus noctis an 
diei sit." Comp. Festus, s. v. Decrepitus, p. 71, Miil- 
ler. The root of this word seems to be contained in the 
Sanscr. kshapas, Greek /cj/e0a? (see New Crat. p. 196). 

Cumba, Sab. Festus, p. 64 : " Cumbam Sabini vocant earn, 



§ 2.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 75 

quam militares lecticam, unde videtur derivatum esse 
cubiculum." Comp. Varro, L. L. v. § 166, and Gloss. 
MS. Camberon. (Voss. Fit. Serm. p. 419) : " Cumba 
dicitur lectica a cubando." 

Cupencus, Sab. Serv. adJEn. xii. 538: " Sane sciendum, 
cupencum Sabinorum lingua sacerdotem vocari : sunt 
autem cupenci Herculis sacerdotes." 

Curis, Quiris, Sab. Ovid. Fast, ii, 475 : " Sive quod hasta 
curis priscis est dicta Sabinis." Varro {ap. Dion. Hal. 
ii. p. 109, Huds.) : Kvpei<i yap ol Xafilvoi ra<; al%/j,a<; 
Kokoua-i' Tavra fiev ovv Tepevrios Ovdpptov ypa<f>ei. 
Macrob. Sat. i. 9 : " Quirinum quasi bellorum poten- 
tem, ab hasta, quam Sabini curim vocant." Festus, 
p. 49 : " Curis est Sabine hasta. Unde Romulus Qui- 
rinus, quia earn ferebat, est dictus." Ibid : " Curitim 
Junonem appellabant, quia eandem ferre hastam puta- 
bant." p. 63 : " Quia matronae Junonis Curitis in tu- 
tela sint, quae ita appellabatur a ferenda hasta, qua3 
lingua Sabinorum Curis dicebatur." (Comp. Muller, 
EtrusJc. ii. p. 45, and Festus, p. 254.) Servius, JEn. i. 
296 : " Romulus autem Quirinus ideo dictus est, vel 
quod hasta utebatur, quae Sabinorum lingua Curis dici- 
tur : hasta enim, i. e. curis, telum longum est, unde et 
securis, quasi semi-curis." Isidor. ix. 2, 84 : " Hi et 
Quirites dicti, quia Quirinus dictus est Romulus ; quod 
semper hasta utebatur, quae Sabinorum lingua quiris 
dicitur." Cf. Plutarch. Fit. Romul. 29. If curis meant 
" a lance," as these authorities indicate, its meaning was 
derived from the definition of a lance as " a headed or 
pointed staff." The analogies suggested by Pott {Et. 
For sell. i. 263, ii. 533) do not lead to any satisfactory 
result. Some confusion arises in the mind from a com- 
parison of Quirites, {curia), curiatii, " the full citizens 
or hoplites," with Kovprjre^, Kvpioc, Koipavou, icovpoi, 
Kovpihios — words denoting "headship" or "personal 



76 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. IV. 

rank." Comp. New Cratylus, p. 413, sqq. ; Welcker, 
Theognis, p. xxxiii. ; Lobeck, Aglaopham. p. 1 1 44, not. 
c, and ad Soph. Aj. 374, 2d edit. The fight between 
the Horatii and Curiatii probably refers to a contest 
between the Curiatii (tcov pyres), " men of the curia, 
and wielders of the spear, or wearers of the helmet," 
and the Horatii (j^epvrJT€<;), " handicraftsmen," i. e. the 
lower order, in which contest, as usual, the latter suc- 
ceeded in maintaining their just rights. In the old 
tradition it is uncertain which of the two fought for 
Alba (Liv. i. 24), i. e. whether the Latin or Sabine 
interest was at that time predominant at Rome. The 
story about Horatius Codes admits of a similar inter- 
pretation. The Tuscans were repelled at the bridge- 
head by the three Roman tribes — Lartius (Larth, Lars, 
"prince" or "king") representing the head-tribe, Her- 
minius the second, and Horatius the third. The mean- 
ing of the name Herminius is far from obvious ; it 
does not sound like a Latin name. Since, however, we 
know that the later Romans converted Herr-mann into 
Arminius (for the first syllable comp. herus, &c, and for 
the second ho-min-, ne-min-, &c), we may well suppose 
that Her-minius represents the same original form, and 
therefore that, as Lartius typifies the nobles, and Ho- 
ratius the common people, so Herminius personifies 
the warriors of Rome. And this explanation of the 
name is quite in accordance with the meaning of the 
word Her-min in those Low German languages with 
which the Sabine and other Italian idioms were so in- 
timately connected. Grimm says {Deutsche Mythol. 
p. 328, 2d edit.) : " die Sachsen scheinen in Hirmin 
einen kriegerisch dargestellten Wodan verehrt zu ha- 
ben." We find a further confirmation in the fact, that 
his name was Titus Herminius ; for not only does Titus 
signify " warrior" (Fest. p. 366, Muller: " Tituli mi- 



§ 2.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 77 

lites appellantur quasi tutuli, quod patriam tuerentur, 
unde et Titi prsenomen ortum est "), but the Titienses, 
or Titles, were actually " the Sabine quirites (spear- 
men)," the second tribe at Rome. By a similar personi- 
fication, the senior consul, Valerius, commands Hermin- 
ius, the " warriors," and Lartius the " young nobles ;" 
while the other consul, Lucretius, represents the Luceres, 
or third class of citizens (Liv. ii. 11). Even Lucretia 
may be nothing more than a symbol of the third order 
of the populus ; so that her ill-treatment by Sextus 
will be an allegory referring to the oppression of the 
Luceres, who often approximated to the plebs, by the 
tyrannical Etruscan dynasty. It is also singular that 
Lucretius and Horatius, both representatives of the 
third class, succeed one another in the first consulship. 
The praenomen of Spurius Lartius does not appear to be 
the Latin spurius, " illegitimate," but a Tuscan deriva- 
tive from super, the first vowel being omitted, accord- 
ing to the Tuscan custom, and the second softened into 
u, as in augur (also perhaps a Tuscan word) for avi- 
ger. That Spurim was a Tuscan name appears from 
the derivative Spurinna. 

Cyprus, Sab. Varro, L. L. v. § 159 : " Vicus Cyprius 
(Liv. i. 48) a cypro, quod ibi Sabini cives additi conse- 
derunt, qui a bono omine id appellarunt ; nam cyprum 
Sabine bonum" The word probably contains the same 
element as the Persian khub (l-j^), " good" or " fair." 

Dalivus, Osc. Fest. p. 68 : " Dalivum supinum ait esse 
Aurelius, iElius stultum. Oscorum quoque lingua 
significat insanum. S antra vero dici putat ipsum, 
quern Grseci SelXaiov, i. e. propter cujus fatuitatem 
quis misereri debeat." Comp. Hesych., Aa\i<;, /teopo"?; 
and see Blomf. ad ^Esch. Lumen. 318. 

Diana, Sab. Vide sub v. Feronia. 

Dirus, Umbr. et Sab. Serv. ad Mn. iii. 235 : " Sabini et 



78 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. IV. 

Umbri, quae nos mala dira appellant." This word 
seems to be the same in effect as the Gr. Setvo?. 

Famel, Osc. Fest. p. 87 : " Famuli origo ab Oscis de- 
pended apud quos servus famel nominabatur, unde et 
familia vocata." Comp. Miiller, Etrusker, i. p. 38. 
Benfey (Wurzel-Lex. ii. 20) would connect fa-mel for 
fag-mel with the Sanscrit root bhag, " to honour ;" 
Sclav, bog, " god ;" Russ. bog'-itj, " to honour." 

Fasena, Sab. Varro {ap. Vet. Orthogr. p. 2230 p.) : " Si- 
quidem, ut testis est Varro, a Sabinis fasena dicitur." 
p. 2238 : " Itaque harenam justius quis dixerit, quo- 
niam apud antiquos fasena erat, et hordeum, quiafor- 
deum, et, sicut supra diximus, hircos, quoniam jirci 
erant, et hcedi, quoniam fcedi." The ancients, how- 
ever, often omitted the aspirate in those words which 
originally had /. Quinctil. Inst. Orat. i. 5. § 20 : " Par- 
cissime ea (aspiratione) veteres usi sunt etiam in voca- 
libus, cum csdos ircosque dicebant." The /is changed 
into h in the proper name Halesus — the hero epony- 
mus of the Falerians, and founder of Falisci: see 
Turneb. Adv. xxi. 3. Below, Fedus. For the similar 
change from / to h in the Romance languages, see New 
Cratylus, p. 125. 

Februum, Sab. Varro, L. L. vi. § 13 : " Februum Sabini 
purgamentum, et id in sacris nostris verbum." Ovid. 
Fast. ii. 19 : " Februa Romani dixere piamina Patres." 
Fest. p. 85. Also Tuscan ; see J. Lyd. de Mens. p. 170. 

Fedus, Fcedus, Sab. Varro, L. L. v. § 97 : " Ircus, quod 
Sabini fircus ; quod '^c fedus, in Latio rure edus; qui 
in urbe, ut in multis a addito, aedus." Apul. de Not. 
Adspir. p. 94 (Osann.) : " M. Terentius scribit hedum 
lingua Sabinorum fedum vocatum, Romanosque cor- 
rupte hedus pro eo quod est fedus habuisse, sicut hircus 
pro fircus, et trahere pro trafere." p. 125 : " Sabini 
emm fircus, Romani hircus; illi vefere, Romani vehere 



§ 2.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 79 

protulerunt." Fest, p. 84: " Fcedum antiqui dicebant 
pro hcedo, folus pro olere, fostem pro hoste, fostem pro 
hostia." Above, Fasena. 

Feronia, Sab. Varro, L. L. v. § 74 : " Feronia, Minerva, 
Novensides a Sabinis. Paulo aliter ab eisdem dicimus 
Herculem, Vestam, Salutem, Fortunam, Fortem, Fidem. 
Et ara? Sabinam linguam olent qua? Tati regis voto 
sunt Romae dedicatae ; nam ut Annales dicunt, vovit 
(1) Opi, (2) Flora, (3) Vediovi Saturnoque, (4) Soli, 
(5) Lunce, (6) Volcano et Summano, itemque (7) La- 
rundce, (8) Termino, (9) Quirino, (10) Vortumno, (11) 
Laribus, (12) Diance Lucinc&que. [The figures refer 
to the xii. altars, according to Miiller's view, Festus, 
p. xliv. : comp. Etrush. ii. p. 64.] E quis nonnulla no- 
mina in utraque lingua habent radices, ut arbores, quaa 
in confinio natae in utroque agro serpunt : potest enim 
Saturnus hie de alia causa esse dictus atque in Sabinis, 
et sic Diana, et de quibus supra dictum est." 

Fides, Sab. Above, s. v. Feronia. 

Fircus, Sab. Above, Fedus. 

Flora, Sab. Above, s. v. Feronia. 

Fors, Fortuna. Ibid. 

Gela, Opic. Steph. Byzan. voc. JeXa: — 6 Se irorafio^ 
(TeXa) qtl TroWrjv 7rd^y7jv jevva' tuvttjv <yap rfj ^Otti- 
Ktov cj)(ovj} /ecu %iice\cov yekav Xeyecrdat. 

Hercules, Sab. Above, s. v. Feronia. 

Herna, Sab. et Marsic. " A rock." Serv. ad Virg. vEn. vii. 
684. Compare /cpav-aos, icapav-ov ; Gael, cam ; Irish, 
cairneach ; Sclav, kremeni. 

Idus, Sab. Varro, L. L. vi. § 28 : " Idus ab eo quod 
Tusci itus, vel potius quod Sabini idus dicunt." 

Irpus, Sab. et Samn. Serv. ad JEn. xi. 785 : " Nam 
lupi Sabinorum lingua hirpi vocantur." Fest. p. 106 : 
" Irpini appellati nomine lupi, quern irpum dicunt 
Samnites; eum enim ducem secuti agros occupavere." 



80 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. IV. 

Strabo, v. p. 250 : i^fjs 8' elalv 'Iprrlvoi, tcavrol %av- 
vlrai" Tovvo/jba B' ecr^ov dirb tov rjyrjaafiivov \vkov 
rrjs diroiKla^' Xpirov yap kcl\ov<tiv oi Havvlrai tov 
Xvtcov. Compare the Sanscrit vrikas ; and see New 
Cratyl. p. 349. 

Jupiter, Sab. v. Feronia. 

Lares, Sab. v. Feronia. 

Larunda, Sab. v. Feronia. 

Lepestce, Sab. Varro, L. L. v. § 1 23 : " Dictae lepestcs, 
quae etiam nunc in diebus sacris Sabinis vasa vinaria 
in mensa deorum sunt posita ; apud antiquos scriptores 
inveni appellari poculi genus Xeiraardv, quare vel hide 
radices in agrum Sabinum et Romanum sunt profectae." 

Lixula, Sab. Varro, L. L. v. § 107 : " Circuli, quod 
mixta farina et caseo et aqua circuitum aequabiliter 
fundebant. Hoc quidem qui magis incondite facie- 
bant, vocabant lixulas et semilixulas vocabulo Sabino, 
itaque frequentati a Sabinis." 

Lucetius, Osc. Serv. ad JEn. ix. 570 : " Lingua Osca 
Lucetius est Jupiter dictus, a luce quam praestare 
dicitur hominibus." 

Lucina, Luna. v. Feronia. 

Mcesius, Osc. Fest. p. 136 : " Mcesius lingua Osca mensis 
Mains" 

Mamers, Osc. et Sab. Fest. p. 131: " Mamers, Mamertis 
facit, i. e. lingua Osca Mars, Martis, unde et Mamer- 
tini in Sicilia dicti, qui Messanae habitant." id. p. 158 : 
" Et nomen acceperunt unum, ut dicerentur Mamer- 
tini, quod conjectis in sortem duodecim deorum no- 
minibus, Mamers forte exierat; qui lingua Oscorum 
Mars significatur." id. p. 131 : " Mamercus praenomen 
Oscum est ab eo, quod hi Martem Mamertem appel- 
lant." Varro, L. L. v. § 73 : " Mars ab eo, quod ma- 
ribus in bello praeest, aut quod ab Sabinis acceptus, ibi 
(ubi ?) est Mamers." The word md-mers is easily expli- 



§ 2.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 81 

cable from the roots of the Latin language as " man- 
slayer." Mars is probably a contraction of Md-vors, 
" man-protector." Compare Aa-FepTr}s ; and see New 
Crat. p. 411. 
Meddix, Osc. Liv. xxvi. 6 : " Medix tuticus summus 
apud Campanos magistratus." Comp. xxiv. 19. (The 
old reading was mediastaticus.) Pest. p. 123: " Med- 
dix apud Oscos nomen magistratus est." Ennius : 
" Summus ibi capitur Meddix, occiditur alter" (Annal. 
viii. 73). In this passage from Ennius, Dacier reads 
unus for summus. This appears unnecessary : Meddix 
occurs in the Oscan inscriptions with the epithets de- 
getasius, fortis, and tuticus ; summus may be another 
epithet of the same kind. The word Meddix appears 
to be connected in origin with the Greek fxiSew. The 
proper name Mettius (Fest. p. 158), or Mettus (Liv. i. 
23), seems to have been this word Meddix. At least 
Livy says that Mettus Fuffetius was made dictator of 
Alba; and Festus speaks of Sthennius Mettius as 
princess of the Samnites. So, also, we have MEAAEIS 
OY$EN2 (Meddix Ufens) in the inscription given by 
Castelli di Torremuzza, Sicil. vet. Inscr. v. 45, p. 55 : 
see Miiller, Etrush. ii. p. 69, note. In somewhat later 
times the Sabello-Oscans called their dictator by the 
name embratur, which is evidently a shortened form of 
the Latin im-perator, or indu-perator. Liv. viii. 39 ; 
ix. 1 ; x. 29. Oros. v. 15: " Postquam sibi Samnites 
Papium Mutilum imperatorem praefecerant." Simi- 
larly we have coins with the Oscan inscription, G. 
Paapi G. Mutil Embratur ; which refer to the time 
of the Social War, when the forces of the confederacy 
were divided into two armies, each under its own 
imperator, the Marsi being under the orders of Q. 
Popcedius Silo, the Samnites having for their leader 

G 



82 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. IV. 

this Gains Papius Mutilus, the son of Gaius. Of 
tuticus, see below. 

Minerva, Sab. v. Feronia. 

Multa, Osc. et Sab. Fest. p. 142 : " Multam Osce dici 
putant poenam quidam. M. Varro ait poenam esse, sed 
pecuniariam, de qua subtiliter in lib. i„ quasstionum 
epist. i. refert." Cf. p. 144. s. v. Maximam multam. 
Varro, apud Gell. xi. 1 : " Vocabulmn autem ipsum 
multce idem M. Varro uno et vicesimo rerum human- 
arum non Latinum sed Sabinum esse elicit, idque ad 
suam memoriam mansisse ait in lingua Samnitium, qui 
sunt a Sabinis orti." 

Nar, Sab. Virg.^w.vii. 517 : " Sulfurea iVar albus aqua." 
Ubi Serv. : " Sabini lingua sua nar dicunt sulfur." 

Ner, nerio, Sab. Suet. Fit. Tiber, i. : " Inter cognomina 
autem et Neronis adsumpsit, quo significatur lingua 
Sabina fortis ac strenuus." Gell. xiii. 22 : " Nerio a 
veteribus sic declinatur, quasi Anio ; nam proinde ut 
Anienem, sic Nerienem dixerunt, tertia syllaba pro- 
ducta; id autem, sive Nerio sive Nerienes est, Sabi- 
num verbum est, eoque significatur virtus et fortitude 
Itaque ex Claudiis, quos a Sabinis oriundos accepi- 
mus, qui erat egregia atque praestanti fortitudine Nero 
appellatus est. Sed id Sabini accepisse a Graecis vi- 
dentur, qui vincula et firmamenta membrorum vevpa 
dicunt, unde nos quoque nervos appellamus." Lydus, 
de Mens. iv. 4<2. Id. de Magistr. i. 23. Compare the 
Sanscr. nri ; and see above, p. 74, s. v. Cas-nar. 

Novensides, Ops. Sab. v. Feronia. 

Panos, Messap. A then. iii. p. Ill c. : iravo^ apros Mea- 
adinoi. This is a confirmation of punus for panis in 
the Umbrian inscription. 

Petora, petorritum, Osc. Fest. p. 206 : " Petoritum et 
Gallicum vehiculum est, et nomen ejus dictum esse 






§ 2.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 83 

existimant a numero mi. rotarum ; alii Osce, quod hi 
quoque petora quattuor vocent ; alii Greece, sed aloXi- 
Km dictum." Comp. Quinctil. Inst. Orat. i. 5, § 57. 
The iEolic Greek wrote ireacrvpe^, iriacxapa, or iricrvpa, 
or 7reTope<;, Treropa. In Gaelic we have peder. The 
Doric Gr. was reropeq. In general we haye r in Gr. 
where we have qv in Latin, and in these cases we have 
p in Oscan : e.g. Osc. pis, Lat. qvis, Gr. Ti'9; and the 
Oscans wrote Tarpinius, Ampus, for the Lat. Tarqui- 
nius, Ancus. But qv was so agreeable to the Roman 
articulation, that we find qv in Latin words where we 
have not t but it in Greek. Comp. iry, irevre (irefnre), 
i7T7ro<;, eTTOfxat, \ei7rco, Xiira (Xnrapos), otttiXos, ive- 
7T€i, 7rardcraco, TreTrrco, rjirap, with qua, quinque, equus, 
sequor, linquo, liqueo, oquulus, in-quit (quoth Angl., 
quethan Anglo-Sax., gwedyd Welsh), quatio, quoquo, 
jecur. For petor-ritum (petor, (i four," rad. Sanscrit 
ratha, " a wheel") see Heindorf on Hor. Sat. i. 6, 104. 

Pipatio, Osc. Fest. p. 212 : " Pipatio clamor plorantis 
lingua Oscorum." 

Pitpit, Osc. Fest. p. 212 : " Pitpit Osce quidquid." 
Above, Petora. 

Porous, Sab. Varro, L. L. v. § 97 : " Porous quod Sabinis 
dictum Aprimo Porco-por, inde porcus ; nisi si a Graecis, 
quod Athenis in libris sacrorum scripta Kairpw koX 
Tropica*." 

Quirinus, Salus, Sab. v. Feronia. 

Sancus, Sab. Varro, L. L. v. §66: " iElius Dium Fidium 
dicebat Diovis filium, ut Graeci Aih<$ Kopov Castorem, 
et putabat hunc esse Sancum ab Sabina lingua, et 
Herculem a Graeca." 

Saturmis, Sab. v. Feronia. 

Scensa, Sab. Fest. p. 339: "Scensas [Sabini dicebant, 
quas] nunc cenas, quae autem nunc prandia, cenas 



84 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. IV. 

habebant, et pro ceni[s vespernas antiqui]." Comp. 
Paul. Diac. in p. 338. 

Sol, Sab. v. Feronia ; see also Varro, L. L. v. § 68 ; add 
Fest. p. 20 : " Aureliam familiam, ex Sabinis oriun- 
dam, a Sole dictum putant, quod ei publice a populo 
Romano datus sit locus, in quo sacra faceret Soli, qui 
ex hoc Auseli dicebantur, ut Valesii, Papisii, pro eo 
quod est Valerii, Papirii." It would seem from this 
that the Sabine name for the Sun was Selius, i. e. rj\io<s, 
with the usual substitution of the sibilant for the as- 
pirate. The first syllable signifies " to burn," as in 
Greek. On an Etruscan mirror Usil appears as the 
name of a figure armed with a bow, which probably 
represents Apollo ; and this would seem to confirm 
Muller's suggestion (see Berlin. Jahrbucher, August 
1841, p. 222, note) that the whole word Ausil was the 
name of the Sun-god in the Sabine, and perhaps also in 
the Etruscan language. 

Sollo, Osc. Fest. p. 298 : " Sollo Osce dicitur id quod nos 
totum vocamus. Lucilius : vasa quoque omnino redimit, 
non sollo dupundi, i. e. non tota. Idem Livius. Solli- 
cnria, in omni re curiosa. Et solliferreum genus teli, 
totum ferreum. Sollers etiam in omni re prudens 
[comp. Sanscr. sarvdrtha] ; et sollemne, quod omnibus 
annis prsestari debet." 

Strebula, Umbr. Fest. p. 313 : " Strebula Umbrico nomine 
Plautus appellat coxendices quas G[raeci fMijpia dicunt, 
quae] in altaria in[poni solebant, ut Plau]tus ait in Fri- 
[volaria]." Varro, L. L. vii. § 67: " Stribula, ut Opi- 
lius scribit, circum coxendices sunt bovis; id Graecum 
est ab ejus loci versura." Arnob. adv. Gent. vii. 24 : 
" Non enim placet earn em strebulam nominari qua? tau- 
rorum e coxendicibus demitur." 

Strena, Sab. Elpidian., ap. Lyd. de Mens. iv. 4 : 6 Be !E\- 



§ 2.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 85 

7riSiaj/o? eV to5 irepl kopTwv arptfvav rrjv vyleiav ry 
Ha/3cv(ov <pcovf) Xiyeadal (pr)(rtv. Comp. Symmach. Ep. 
x. 35; Festus, p. 313; and the Germ, strenge, Engl. 
strong, Lat. strenuus, Gr. aTpr)vrj<; 3 arprjvos, &c. 

Swmmanus, Sab. v. Feronia. 

Supparus, Osc. Varro, L. L. v. § 131 : " Inclutui alterum 
quod subtus, a quo subucula; alterum quod supra, a 
quo supparus, nisi id, quod item dicunt Osci." 

Tehee, Sab. Varro, R. R. iii. 1, 16: " Nam lingua prisca 
et in Graecia ^Eoleis Boeotii sine afflatu vocant collis 
tebas ; et in Sabinis, quo e Graecia venerunt Pelasgi, 
etiamnunc ita dicunt; cujns vestigium in agro Sabino 
via Salaria non longe a Reate milliarius clivus appel- 
latur Thebes" The word therefore, according to Varro, 
was Pelasgian as well as Sabine. 

Terenum, Sab. Macrob. Sat. ii. 14: "A tereno, quod est 
Sabinorum lingua molle, unde Terentios quoque dictos 
putat Varro ad Libonem primo." Comp. the Gr. Tepijv. 

Terminus, Sab. v. Feronia. 

Tesqua, Sab. Schol. Hor. Epist. i. 14, 19: " Lingua Sa- 
binorum loca difficilia et repleta sentibus sic {tesqua) 
nominantur." 

Tuticus, Osc. Liv. xxvi. 6 : " Medix tuticus." The Iti- 
nerarium Hierosolym. explains the name of the city 
Equus- Tuticus, which Horace could not fit to his verse 
(i. Sat. 5, 87), by equus magnus. Though it is possible, 
however, that tuticus might in a secondary application 
bear this signification, it is more probable that it is the 
adj. from tuta= civitas, and that it means publicus or 
civicus. 

Trabea, Sab. Lydus de Mens. i. 19. 

Trafere, Sab. Above, s. v. Fedus. 

Trimodia, Sab. Schol. Hor. Serm. i. 1, 53: " Cumeree 
dicuntur vasa minora quae capiunt quinque sive sex 
modios, quae lingua Sabinorum trimodice dicuntur." 



86 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. IV. 

Ungulus, Osc. Fest. p. 375 : " Ungulus Oscorum lingua 
anulus." Comp. Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 1 . 

Vedius, Sab. v. Feronia. 

Vefere, Sab. v. Fedus. 

Veia, Osc. Fest. p. 368 : " Veia apud Oscos dicebatur 
plaustrum." 

Vespema, Sab. v. Scensa. 

Vesta, Volcanus, Vertumnus, Sab. v. supra, sub v. Fe- 
ronia. 

The most important fragment of the Oscan language 
is carved on a bronze tablet, which was found in the year 
1793 at Oppidum, on the borders of Lucania, and which is 
called the Tabula Bantina on account of the name Bansce 
occurring in the inscription, which seems to refer to the 
neighbouring city of Bantia in Apulia. On the other side 
is a Latin inscription, which will be considered in its proper 
place. 

The Oscan Bantine inscription contains thirty-three 
lines or fragments of lines. Of these lines four to twenty- 
six are complete at the beginning ; and lines twelve to 
thirty have preserved the ends entire : consequently there 
are some twelve or fourteen lines which may be read 
throughout. Of course, the certainty and facility of the 
interpretation vary materially with the completeness of the 
fragment; and while many passages in the intermediate 
lines may be made out almost word for word, we are left 
to mere conjecture for the broken words and sentences at 
the beginning and end. The following is a copy of the 
Table. 

1 uo lici\f\u\_d\ . . . 

2 mus . q . moltam . angit . u . . . . 

3. . . . deiv . ast . maimas . cameis . senateis . 
tangi 



§ 3.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 87 

4. amosi . . cnioc . egmo . com . parascuster 

suae . pis . pertemust . p 

5. deivatud . sipus . komonei . perum . dolom 

mallom . siom . ioc . como .... 

6. cas . amnud . pan . plel . sum . brateis . auti 

cadets . amnud . inim . idle 

7. tanginud . maimas . carneis . pertumum . piei 

ex . comono . pertemem 

8. comono . ni . hipid pis . pocapi . t . post 

post . exac . comono . hafiert . meddis . . 

9. en . eituas . factud . pons . touto . deivatuns 

tanginom . deicans . stom . dat . ei . . 

10. deicum . pod . valaemom . touticom . tadait 

ezum . wep . fepacid . pod . pis . «/«£ . . 

1 1 . deivaid . docud . malud . suae . pz's . contrud 

exelc . fefacust . «z^i . comono . hip . . 

12. ta . es^r/ . ?z . © (D . m . sz^«e . pis . ionc .fortis 

meddis . moltaum . /zeres£ . ampert . min 
. . . teis . 

13. eituas . moltas . moltaum . licitud . sz/#e . 

pis . pru . meddixud . altrei . castrous . . 
uci . eituas 

14. zicolom . dicust . izic . comonon . hipid . ne . 

don . op . toutad . petirupert . urust . 
sipus . perum . dolom . 

15. mallom . in . trutum . zico . touto . peremust . 

petiropert . neip . mais . pomtis . com . 
preivatud . actud . 
J 6. pruter . £>rzm . medicat . mom . ^is£ . »» . pow . 
dos . mo . xx . con . preivatud . urust . 
eisucen . ziculud . 



OO THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. IV. 

17. zicolom . xxx . nesimum . comonom . ni . /lipid . 

suae . pis . contrud . exeic . fefacust . 
iojic . suae . jus . 

18. herest , meddis . moltaum . licitud . ampert . mis- 

treis . aeteis . eitnas . licitud. pon . censtur. 

1 9. Bansae . tautam . censazet . p)is - ceus . Bantins . 

fust . censamur . esuf . in . eitnam . 
poizad . ligud . 

20. aisc . censtur . censaum . anget . uzet . aut . suae . 

pis . censtomen . nei . cebnust . dolud . 
mallud . 

2 1 . in . eizeik . vincter . esuf . comenei . lamatir . 

prmed . dixud . touiad . praesentid . 
perum . dolum . 

22. mallom . in . amiricatud . alio . famelo . in . ei . 

sivom . paei . eizeis . fust . pa . ean . 
censto . ust . 

23. toutico . esiud . pr . suae . praefucus . pod. post . 

exac . Bansae . fust . suae . pis . op . 
eizois . com . 

24. at r ud ... ud . acum . herest . auti . pru- 

inedicatud . manimasepum . eizazunc . 
egmazum . 

25. pas . ex . aiscen . ligis . serif tas . set . nep . 

Mm . pruhipid . mais . zicolois . x . nesi- 
mois . suae . pis . contrud . 

26. exeic . pruhipust . molto . etanto . estud . n . Q . 

in . suae . pis . ionk . meddis . moltaum . 
herest . licitud . 

27. . . . minstreis . aeteis . eituas . moltas . mol- 

taum . licitud pr . censtur . Bansae 



§ 4.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 89 

28. . . . id .iii .i . suae . . . fust . nep . 

censtur . fuid . nei . suae . pr . fust . in . 
suae . pis . pr . in . suae . 

29. . . . w, . . . iei . q . d . . . im . 

nerum . fust . izic . post . eizuc . tr . 

ph . ni . fuid . suae . pis . 

30 ist . izik . amprufid . facus . 

estud . idic . medicim . eizuh . 

31 um . vi . nesimum . 

32 um . pod . 

33 medicim . 

In the first line we have only the word Uki\t\u\d\, 1 i.e. § 4. 

liceto, which occurs in five other passages, and also in the o^^BantLe 
Cippus Abellanus. Table. 

In 1. 2 we read: Q. moltam angit . u. Q. is the com- 
mon abbreviation for qucestor, whose business it was to col- 
lect such fines : compare Mus. Ver. p. 469 : qvaistores 

. . . . AIRE . MVLTATICOD . DEDERONT. We have 

seen above that multa s. molta is recognised as a Sabello- 
Oscan word; and it is of course equivalent to the Latin 
multa. As anter is the Oscan form of inter, we might sup- 
pose that an-git . u was for in-igit . o. But a comparison 
of the Oscan inscriptions xxiv. 18 (p. 71 Leps.), meddiss 
degetasius araget, and xxvii. 38 (p. 86 Leps.), meddis 
degetasis aragetud multas (which are obviously, with the 
common change of d to r, meddix degetasius adiget and 
meddix degetasius adigito multas), would rather shew that 
angit . u[d~] is an abbreviation of adigito, the dental liquid 
representing the dental mute. 

L. 3 : deivast maimas hameis senateis tangi. . . The 

1 In the second transcription I have substituted k for c, for the reasons 
given by Lepsius {ad Inscr. p. 150). 



90 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. IV. 

first word is the conjunctive of divavit, which occurs in the 
inscription quoted by Lanzi (Saggio, iii. p. 533), and we 
have the imperative deivatud in 1. 5, deivatuns in 1. 9, and 
deivaid in 1. 11. Deivo must mean " to divide" or " dis- 
tribute," if we may judge from the context in this passage 
and in Lanzi's inscription, which runs thus : v. atii divavit 

TUNII IRINII II. T. IR1NII PATRII DONO MIIIL I. LIB , . . T. 

Maimas karneis must mean maximas carries, as mais in 
11. 15, 25, signifies mag is : comp. the French mais. The 
mutilated tangi . . . was probably tanginud (1. 7), an abla- 
tive case, corresponding to the accus. tanginom (1. 9). We 
have the same phrase, senateis tanginud, in the Cippus 
Abellanus, i. 8 ; and it is probably equivalent to the de 
senatuos sententiad of the senatus-consultum de Bacchana- 
libus. If so, the root tag- (with nasal insertion ta-n-g-) 
occurred in Oscan as well as in Greek. 

L. 4 : suce pis pertemust. The first two words, suae pis, 
i. e. si quis, are of constant occurrence in this Table. For 
the form of sua = si, see New Cratylus, p. 274. So suad 
— sic (Midler, Suppl. Ann. in Fest. p. 411). Pertemust is 
the perf. subjunctive of a verb pertimere, which seems to 
mean " to portion off" or " divide:" comp. pertica, &c. 
In 1. 7 it is used with maximas karneis ; and it is therefore, 
perhaps, not unlike deivo in meaning. 

L. 5 : komonei seems to be the genitive of a word com- 
unus, synonymous with com-munis, and designating the ager 
publicus, i. e. to koivov. Perum dolum mallom siom=per 
dolum malum suum. The preposition per-um seems to be a 
compound like its synonyme am-pert (12, &c). Iok komo- 
[wo] is perhaps hoc com-unum : ionc stands in this inscrip- 
tion for hunc. 

L. 6 : -kas amnud. In Lepsius' transcript this is writ- 
ten as one word ; but in the original there is a vacant space 
between the two, and -kas is clearly the end of some muti- 
lated word, the beginning of which was broken off from the 



§ 4.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 91 

end of the preceding line. Amnud occurs again in this 
line, and also in the Cippus Abellanus, 1. 17. It seems to 
be the abl. of some noun. Piei, in this line and the next, 
must surely be a verb : it is impossible to speak with any 
degree of confidence about a word which occurs only in 
this passage; but if the usual change from qu to p has 
taken place here, the passage may mean : quam quiverit, 
sumat brateis aut kadeis (perhaps two participles) ex amne ; 
and 1. 7, [si senatuis~\ sententiad maximas carries distribuere 
quiverit, ex com-uno distribuere [liceto]. 

L. 8: ni hipid, i. e. ne habeat: conf. 11. 11, 14, 17; 
also pru-hipid (25) =prcehibeat, and pru-hipust (26) =prcs- 
hibuerit. Post post is probably an error of the engraver 
for pod post : pod = quod signifies quando in 1. 23. Post- 
esak =post-hac : e'sak is the accus. neut. pi. of the pro- 
noun esus, which we have also in the Eugubine Tables, 
the -k, -ke, being subjoined, as in the Latin hic = hi-ce. 
This is a most instructive form, as bearing immediately on 
a difficulty which has long been felt in Latin etymology. 
The quantity of the last syllables of anted, intered, posted, 
proptered, seems at first sight irreconcilable with the sup- 
position that these words are the prepositions ante, inter, 
&c, followed by the neut. accus. ea. And a comparison 
with post-hac, adversus hac (Fest. p. 246, 1. 8, &c), might 
lead to the supposition that they are ablatives feminine, 
the regimen of the prepositions being changed, as is cer- 
tainly the case in Umbrian. This is, at any rate, the opi- 
nion of Klenze (Phil. Abhandl. p. 45) and Miiller (ad Fest. 
p. 247). Another philologer supposes that they may be 
deduced from the accus. earn, on the analogy of post-quam, 
ante-quam, &c. (Journal of Education, i. 106). But this 
opinion has nothing to support it. It is much more rea- 
sonable to suppose that the demonstrative pronoun, in 
Latin as in Oscan, being generally followed by the termi- 
nation -ce, made its neut. pi. in -a-ce or -esc- : we have an 



92 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. IV. 

instance of this in the demonstrative hi-c, the neut. pi. of 
which is hcec, not ha-ce or ha. Now as this form has 
become ha-c in posthac, and as qua-ce has become quce, 
we may understand that, as quce-propter becomes qua- 
propter, so ante-ea-ce, or ante-ecec, might become ant'ed; 
and so of the others. At least, there is no other way of 
explaining the neuter forms quce and hcec. Post-e'sa-k is 
therefore a synonyme for post-hcec =post-hac. 

L. 10: pod valcemom toutikom tadait ezum nep fepakid 
pod pis dat, i.e. [si quis fecit] quod salut em public am tardet, 
illud neque fecit, quod quis dat [faciendum - ] . Tadait ap- 
pears to contain the root of tcedet, which is connected in 
sense and etymology with tardus ; the r is only an assimi- 
lation to the d. Similarly we have pigere interdum pro tar- 
dari, Festus, p. 21 3, Miiller. Fepakid is only an error for 
fefakid, like docud for dolud in the next line. We see from 
this and the conjunctive fefakust, which follows, that the 
Oscans formed the preterite oifacio by reduplication, and 
not by lengthening the root-syllable (New Crat. p. 463). 

The passage from 1. 11 to the end of the paragraph 
maybe supplied and explained as follows: sues pis contrud 
eseik fefakust, auti Jcomono hip[id], [molto] [etan]to esiud 
n. © 0., in sues pis ionk fortis meddis moltaum her est 
ampert mi\nstreis ei]teis eituas moltas moltaum likitud ; 
i. e. si quis adversus haic fecerit, aut com-unum (i. e. agrum 
publicum) habeat (i. e. possideai), multa tanta esto numi 
cio. cio, inde si quis hunc validus magistratus multare vo- 
luerit per ministros cetuos (?) diribitorii (?) multas multare 
liceto. It is easy to restore molto etanto from 1. 26 infra. 
Multa tanta refers to what has preceded, like the siremps lex 
esto of the Roman laws. The sum is denoted by the nume- 
ral sign, which was subsequently represented by cio, just as 
U.S. became h.s. Fortis meddix=validus magistratus (see 
Festus, p. 84, s. v. forctes), in other words, " a magistrate 
of sufficient authority." Molta-um is the old infinitive of 



§ 4.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 93 

multo. Herest is the second perf. of a verb hero, " to 
choose" or " take" (root hir, "a hand," Sanscr. hri), which 
occurs in the Umbrian Tables with a slight variety of 
meaning. In the Latin Bantine Table (1. 7) we have quel 
volet magistratus in a parallel clause. That ampert is a 
preposition is clear, and it is also obvious that it signifies 
" by" or " through;" but that it is to be referred to d/u,<pl 
irepl, as Grotefend proposes, is not so manifest. I should 
rather think that pert is a termination here, as in petiro- 
pert (1. 15) ; and if so, it qualifies the prepos. am, corre- 
sponding to the German um, which is also used with qua- 
lifying terminations, whether prepositional or otherwise : 
compare the Latin ad-versus, &c. Minstrels ceteis is sup- 
plied from 11. 18, 27. The word minis-ter is the correla- 
tive oimagis-ter ; and as magistri or magistratus were the 
higher public functionaries, so ministri were those who did 
the state service in a subordinate capacity — lictores, via- 
tores, and such like. The adjective ceteis, and the word 
eituas, occur again in 1. 18 without moltas ; and it is clear, 
therefore, that eituas is not an adjective agreeing with 
moltas, but rather that it is a gen. depending on mins- 
treis. The meaning of these words is altogether uncer- 
tain. Klenze takes eituas for istas ; and Grotefend trans- 
lates it cerarii. It is possible that ce-teis may be derived 
from ces ; in which case we shall have ce[s~]tuus by the side 
of (Bs-timus (preserved in ces-timo : see below, Ch. VII. § 5), 
just as we have both cedi-tuus and cedi-timus (Festus, p. 13). 
The word eitua may be connected with the root it- ox fid, 
" to divide" or " distribute." It will be recollected that 
idus was a Sabine, itus a Tuscan word : Varro, L. L. vi. 
§28. 

L. 13 : suce pis pru-meddisud altrei castrous-uci eituas zi- 
kolom dicust, izik komonom hipid: i. e. si quis prce magistratu 
alius . . . sicilicum dicaverit, sic comunum habeat. Prumed- 
disud seems to be much the same as prumedikatud, 1. 24. 



94 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. IV. 

Pru stands for prai : so wc have pruter (1. 16), pruhipid 
(1. 25), for prater, prcehibeat. The ziculus, mentioned in 
this and other passages of the Table, seems to be the sici- 
licus (from seed), which was, in land-measuring, ^g" °f the 
juger, or six hundred square feet (Columella, v. 1,9): in 
general it expressed subdivision, and was -jt of the as, or 
\ of the semuncia in money-reckoning (Fest. p. 366 ; Sici- 
licum dictum quod semunciam secet, Labb. Gloss. ; Sicilicum, 
reraprov ovy/das, Bockh, Metrolog. Untersuchung . p. 160), 
and also -^ of the quinaria (Frontin. de Aquced. c. 28), and 
of the Jwra (Plin. xviii. 32) . 

L. 14: ne donop . toutad .petirupert . urust sipus p. d. m. 
The first words here are very obscure. Klenze joins op- 
toutad, which he translates propterea. Petirupert seems 
to coincide with the Umbrian petur-pursus (Eug. Tab. vi. 
b. 11), i.e. quadri-fariam. Urust is the second perf. of 
urvo s. urbo= aratro definio, circumdo (Fest. p. 375 ; Pom- 
ponius, L. 289, § 6, de Verb. Signif.), whence urbs, and 
perhaps orbis. Sipus p. d. m., " knowingly and with evil 
design." Sipus = sibus, for which see Fest. p. 336. 

L. 15: petiro-pert neip niais pomtis = quater neque 
magis quintis [vicibus~\. Ibid.: kom preivatud aktud=cum 
privato actu. Fest. p. 17 : " Actus in geometria minorem 
partem jugeri, id est centum viginti pedum." Niebuhr, 
Hist, of Pom. ii. append, i. ad not. 29 : " The jugerum, as 
the very name implies, was a double measure ; and the real 
unit in the Roman land-measure was the actus, containing 
14,400 square feet, that is, a square of which each side 
was 120 feet." 

L. 16: pruter pam=prceter-quam. 

L. 18, sqq. : pon . kenstur . Bansce . tautam . kensazet . 
pis . keus . Bantins . fust . hensamur . esuf . in . eituam . 
poizad . ligud . aisk . kenstur . Jcensaum . anget . uzet . aut . 
sues . pis . kenstomen . nei . kebnust . dolud . mallud . in . e . 
ize'ik . vinkter . esuf . comenei . lamatir . pr . med . dixud . 



§ 4.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 95 

toutad . prcesentid . perum . dolum . medium . in . amirika- 
tud . alio . famelo . in . ei . sivom . paei . eizeis . fust . pa . 
ean . censto . ust . toutiko . estud. The first words are 
tolerably clear: Quum censor (here censitor) Bantiae civi- 
tatem censassit, quis civis Bantinus fuerit. The letter z 
represents the combination ss, as has been shewn above by 
a comparison of 6{3pv&, obrussa, &c. The form keus for 
civis is etymologically interesting. It proves that -vis is 
the termination of the Latin word: consequently ke-us, 
ci-vis, is composed of the root ke {icel-fiai, &c), and the 
pronominal affix -vi-s, -u-s (see New Cratylus, p. 334), and 
the word means " a squatter," or generally " an inhabit- 
ant;" compare drjres, insassen, Sec. (Buttmann, Lexil. ii. 
Ill, note). The word kensamur, if it is one word, is hardly 
intelligible. Grotefend understands it as the passive par- 
ticiple kensamus for kensamnus or censendus; but although 
the participial termination mn is often reduced to n, I know 
no instance in which it is represented by m only. A com- 
parison of kensaum . anget . uzet . in 1. 20, and of kensto . 
ust . in 1. 22, might rather induce us to suppose that ur 
represents part of this verb uzet, ust, and then kensam 
is probably a corruption of kensaum the infinitive. It is 
remarkable that the verb is conjugated in -ao, and not like 
its Latin equivalent in -eo. The conjugation seems to be 
censo, -as, -ui, -dam, -itus, like veto. What this verb uzo, uro, 
may mean can only be guessed from the context. It seems 
to be a parallel to anget; which, as is shewn above, means 
adiget. It might then be a form of urgeo, the guttural 
being softened, as in the preter ursi, and in that case its 
signification will be " to insist upon," " to exact :" quum 
censitor B. civitatem censuerit, censum urgeat, quis civis 
Bantinus fuerit. The next words seem to mean, ibi in 
diribitorium penset, hac lege, and here the sentence must 
end. Esu-f seems to correspond exactly to i-bi, just as 
pu-f {Tab. Pomp. xxiv. 4, 3) answers to u-bi. Poizad seems 



96 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. IV. 

to be penset, a form of pendo. The analogy is supported 
by the French poids for pondus, &c. Ligud aiske=lege 
hac, just as below, 25. es aisken ligis must mean ex hisce 
legibus. The next sentence may be rendered: censitor 
censitum (i. e. ad censendwm) adiget, urgebit; aut si quis 
censum ilium non compleverit (?) dolo malo, inde is statim 
vincitor. It is hardly possible to understand henstom . en . 
except as an abbreviation of the two words censtom enom, 
the latter being the same pronoun which appears in Latin, 
in the locative case, as the conjunction enim, Sanscrit ena 
{New Crat. p. 216). Grotef end's supposition that it is a 
noun in -men, like the Umbrian esunumen, is inadmissible, 
because in that case the word must have been censamen. 
The interpretation of Jcebnust^kebnuerit is of course con- 
jectural only; and though there is one etymology by which 
it might be made to bear the signification which I have 
given it, yet in a matter of so much uncertainty it is better 
to leave it as- it is. E . izeic seems to stand for Eso izeic, 
i. e. is sic (statim, illico) . The Oscans seem to have a verb 
vinco, " to bind," which the Romans imply by their vinxi, 
the form in -io having perhaps come into vogue by way of 
distinction from vinco, root vie. Of the next words we 
cannot make much. Prmed . disud perhaps stands for pro 
meddixud= pro medicatud (1. 24) =pro magistratu. Tou- 
tad pr(ssentid= civitate prcesente ? In . amirihatud alio . 
famelo=inde emercato alium famulum? We know from 
Festus that famel was an Oscan word. Pa ean kensto ust, 
toutiko estud = qua earn censitor urget, publicum esto? 

L. 23: Pr . suae . prafukus . pod . post . e'sak . Bansce . 
fust : i. e. prcetor sive prafectus, quando post-hac Bantiae 
fuerit. Prafucus is formed from prtzficio, in the same way 
as the Umbrian der-secus from dis-seco. L. 23, sqq. : sua 
pis op-eizois kom atrud . . . ud ahum herest, auti prumedi- 
katud manimasepum . . eizazunk eg mazum pas es aisken 
ligis skriftas set ne . pliim pruhipid mais zikolois . x. nesi- 



§ 5.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 97 

mois, Sec. : i. e. si quis ob hac cum atro . . o agere voluerit, aut 
prce magistratu mancipium isthoc elocare (?), quas ex hisce 
legibus scriptas sciet, ne in hoc <prcehibeat magis sicilicis 
decern contiguis (below, Chap. VII. § 6), &c. Eg-mazun 
seems to answer to the Greek i/c-fiiaOovv ; /mg06<;, miethe, 
&c. run through this family of languages. The Table has 
ne . phim ; I would rather read nep him : nep is used in an 
absolute prohibition in Umbrian {Tab. Eug. vi. a, 27), and 
him appears to be the locative of the pronoun hi (see New 
Crat. p. 173). The rest of the paragraph has been ex- 
plained before. 

There is nothing in the last paragraph which seems to 
require any observation, except that in 1. 29 tribunes of 
the plebs seem to be mentioned: tr.pl. ni fuid=nisi fuit 
tribunus 



It seems scarcely worth while to enumerate the gram- § 5. 

matical forms which may be collected from this inscrip- e e anse ' 
tion, as they are virtually the same with those which occur 
in the oldest specimens of Latin. It may be desirable, 
however, before concluding this part of the subject, to 
make a few remarks on the Fabulce Atellance, the only 
branch of Oscan literature of which we know any thing. 

The most important passage respecting the Fabulce 
Atellance, — that in which Livy is speaking (vii. 2) of the 
introduction of the Tuscan ludiones at Rome in the year 
a.u.c. 390, — has often been misunderstood ; and the same 
has been the fate of a passage in Tacitus (iv. 14), in which 
the historian mentions the expulsion of the actors from 
Italy in the year a. u. c. 776. With regard to the latter, 
Tacitus has caused some confusion by his inaccurate use 
of the word histrio ; but Suetonius has the phrase Atella- 
narum histrio {Nero, c. 39); and the word had either lost 
its earlier and more limited signification, or the Atellanae 
were then performed by regular histriones. 



98 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. IV. 

Livy says that, among other means of appeasing the 
anger of the gods in the pestilence of 390 a. u. c, scenic 
games were for the first time introduced at Rome. Hi- 
therto the Romans had had no public sports except those 
of the circus — namely, races and wrestling; but now this 
trivial and foreign amusement was introduced. Etruscan 
ludiones danced gracefully to the sound of the flute with- 
out any accompaniment of words, and without any pro- 
fessed mimic action. Afterwards, the Roman youth began 
to imitate these dances, and accompanied them with un- 
premeditated jests, after the manner of the Fescennine 
verses ; these effusions gave way to the satura, written in 
verse and set to the flute, which was acted by professed 
histriones with suitable songs and gestures ; and then, 
after a lapse of several years, Livius Andronicus ventured 
to convert the satura into a regular poem, and to make 
a distinction between the singing (canticum) and the dia- 
logue (diverbia), the latter alone being reserved to the 
histrio. Upon this, the Roman youth, leaving the regular 
play to the professed actors, revived the old farces, and 
acted them as afterpieces (exodia) to the regular drama. 
These farces, he expressly says, were of Oscan origin, and 
akin to the Fabulcs Atellance ; and they had the peculiar 
advantage of not affecting the civic rights of the actors. 

It is manifest from this passage that the Roman youth 
were not satisfied with either the Tuscan or the Greek 
importations, and that it was their wish to revive some- 
thing not foreign, but national. Of course Livy cannot 
mean to say that the Oscan farce was not introduced at 
Rome till after the time of Livius Andronicus Muso, and 
that it was then imported from Atella. For whereas Muso 
did not represent at Rome till the second Punic war, 1 

1 Porcius Licinius, apud Aul. Gell. xvii. 21 : 

Pcenico bello secundo Muso pinnate gradu 
Intulit se bellicosam in Rorcmli gentera feram. 
See also Hor. ii. Epist. i. 162. 



§ 5.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE- 99 

Atella shared in the fate of Capua ten years before the 
battle of Zama, and the inhabitants were compelled to 
migrate to Calatia. 1 Now it appears from the coins of 
this place that its Oscan name was Aderla ; 2 and the Ro- 
mans always pronounced this as Atella, by a change of 
the medial into a tenuis, as in Mettus for Meddix, impe- 
rator for embratur, fuit for fuid, &c. This shews that the 
name was in early use at Rome; and we may suppose 
that, as an essential element in the population of Rome 
was Oscan, the Romans had their Oscan farces from a 
very early period, and that these farces received a great 
improvement from the then celebrated city of Aderla in 
Campania. It is also more than probable that these Oscan 
farces were common in the country life of the old Romans, 
both before they were introduced into the city, 3 and after 
the expulsion of the histriones by Tiberius. 4 For the 
mask was the peculiar characteristic of the Atellanse, 5 and 
these country farces are always spoken of with especial 
reference to the masks of the actors. 

We may be sure that the Oscan language was not 
used in these farces when that language ceased to be 
intelligible to the Romans. The language of the frag- 

1 Livy, xxvi. 16, xxii. 61, xxvii. 3. 

2 Lepsius ad Inscriptiones, p. 111. 

3 Virgil. Georg. :<i. 385, sqq. : 

Nee non Ausonii, Troja gens missa, coloni 
Versibus incomptis ludunt risuque soluto, 
Oraque corticibus sumunt horrenda cavatis. 
Comp. Horat. ii. Epist. i. 139, sqq. 

4 Juvenal, Sat. iii. 172, sqq. : 

Ipsa dierum 
Festorum herboso colitur si quando theatro 
Majestas, tandemque redit ad pulpita notum 
Exodiura, quum personae pallentis hiatum 
In gremio matris formidat rusticus infans. 

5 Festus, s. v. personata fabula, p. 217: " per Atellanos qui proprie 
vocantur personati." 



100 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. IV. 

ments which have come down to us is pure Latin, 1 and 
Tacitus describes the Atellana as " Oscum quondam ludi- 
crum." 2 Probably, till a comparatively late period, the 
Atellana abounded in provincial and rustic expressions; 3 
but at last it retained no trace of its primitive simplicity, 
unless we are to seek this in the gross coarseness and ob- 
scenity, 4 which seem to have superseded the old-fashioned 
elegance of the original farce. 5 

1 See Diomed. iii. pp. 487, 488, Putsch. 

2 Ann. iv. 149. 3 Varro, L.L. vii. § 84, p. 152. 

4 Schober, uber die Atellan. Schauspiele, pp. 281, sqq. 

5 Donat. de Trag. et Com. " Atellana? salibus et jocis composite, quse in 
se non habent nisi vetustam elegantiam." The Atellana as well as the comce- 
dia of the Romans derived many of its later features from the Doric farces of 
the Greeks : see Muller, Hist. Lit. Gr. ch. xxix. § 5 (vol. ii. p. 43, note). 



CHAPTER V. 

THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 

§ 1. Transcriptions of proper names the first clue to an interpretation 
of the Etruscan language. § 2. Names of Etruscan divinities derived 
and explained. § 3. Alphabetical list of Etruscan words interpreted. 
§ 4. Etruscan inscriptions — difficulties attending their interpretation. 
§ 5. Inscriptions in which the Pelasgian element predominates. § 6. The 
great Perugian Inscription analysed. § 7. General reflections. 

It will not be possible to investigate the remains of the § 1. 

Etruscan language with any reasonable prospect of sue- of^opernames 
cess, until some scholar shall have furnished us with a tne first clue t0 

an mterpreta- 

body of inscriptions based upon a critical examination of tion of the 
the originals; and even then it is doubtful if we should gua ge. 
have a sufficiently copious collection of materials. The 
theory, however, that the Etruscan language, as we have 
it, is a Pelasgian idiom corrupted and deformed by contact 
with the Umbrian, is amply confirmed by an inspection of 
those remains which admit of approximate interpretation. 

The first great clue to the understanding of this mys- 
terious language is furnished by the Etruscan transcrip- 
tions of well-known Greek proper names, and by the 
Etruscan forms of those names which were afterwards 
adopted by the Romans. This comparison may at least 
supply some prima-facie evidence of the peculiarities of 
Tuscan articulation, and of the manner in which the lan- 
guage tended to corrupt itself. 

It is well known that the Etruscan alphabet possessed 
no mediae, as they are called. We are not, therefore, sur- 



102 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. V. 

prised to find, that in the transcriptions of Greek proper 
names the Etruscans have substituted tenues. Thus, the 
Greek names, ASpaaros, TvSevs, 'OSvo-o-evs, Mekeaypos, 
and IIo\vS€VK7]<;, are written Atresthe, Tide, Utuze, Me- 
lakre, and Pultuke. But the change in the transcription 
goes a step further than this; for though they actually 
possessed the tenues, they often convert them into aspi- 
rate. Thus, Ayafjue/xvwv, "ASpaaTos, &6tis, Ilepcrevs, Ho- 
Xvvelfcrjs, Trf\e<f)o<;, become Achmiem, Atresthe, Thethis, 
Pherse, Phulnike, Thelaphe. In some cases the Greek 
tenues remain unaltered in the transcription, as in Hrj- 
Xey?, Pele ; JJapOevonralo^, Parthanapce ; Kdarcop, Kas- 
tur ; 'Hpa/eAi}?, Herkle : and the Greek aspirates are also 
transferred, as in Apxpiapaos, Amphiare. These tran- 
scriptions of Greek names supply us also with a very 
important fact in regard to the Etruscan syllabarium : 
namely, that their liquids were really semi-vowels; in 
other words, that these letters did not require the expres- 
sion of an articulation-vowel. It has been shewn else- 
where 1 that the semi-vocal nature of the liquid is indicated 
in most languages by the etymological fact, that it may be 
articulated by a vowel either preceding or following it. For 
example : mute -f- liquid -f- vowel = mute + vowel + liquid, 
is an equation which holds good in every etymological 
problem. Applying this principle to the Etruscan tran- 
scriptions, we see that the Etruscan Ap[u]lu, Ach[i]le, 
At[a]laent, Erc[u]le, El\e\chs\a\ntre , Men[e\le, M\e\- 
n[e]rva, Phul\u\nices, Ur[e]ste, &c. are representatives of 
the Greek A-%iWev<i, AraXavrr], 'Hpa/cXr}?, A\i%av8pos, 

1 N. Crat. p. 111. The word el-em-en-tum, according to the etymology 
which has received the sanction of Heindorf {ad Hor. i. Sat. i. 26), would 
furnish an additional confirmation of these views. But this etymology cannot 
be admitted ; and the word must be considered as containing the root ol- (in 
olere, adolescens, indoles, soboles, prdles, &c), so that ele-mentum — ole- 
mentum. See Benary in the Berl. Jahrb. for August 1841, p. 240. 



§1.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 103 

MeveXecos, IIo\vveiKr)<;, 'OpiaTr;?, and of the Latin Mi- 
nerva, only because the Etruscans did not find it necessary 
to express in writing the articulation-vowel of the liquids. 

If we pass to the consideration of those proper names 
which are found in the Latin language, we shall observe 
peculiarities of precisely the same kind. For instance, 
the medials in Idus, Tlabonius, Vibius, &c. are represented 
in Etruscan by the tenues in Itus, Tlapuni, Fipi, Sec. ; the 
tenues in Turius, Velcia, &c. stand for the aspirates in 
Thura, Felche, &c. ; and the articulation-vowels in Lici- 
nius, Tanaquil, &c. are omitted before or after the liquids 
in Lecne, Thanchfil, &c. 

The transcription Utuze, for '08v<T<rev<;, suggests a re- 
mark which has been in part anticipated in a former 
chapter. We see that in this case the Etruscan z corre- 
sponds to the Greek -aa, just as conversely, in the cases 
there cited, the Greek -£ is represented by -ss in Latin. 
It was formerly supposed that this Etruscan z was equiva- 
lent to x=ks, and this supposition was based on a com- 
parison of Utuze with Ulyxes. To say nothing, however, 
of the mistake which was made in assuming that Utuze 
represented Ulyxes and not '0<Wo-eu9, it has been shewn 
by Lepsius {Annali deW Institute, viii. p. 168) both that the 
Etruscans added this z to the guttural k, as in srankzl, &c. 
and also, when it was necessary to express the Greek £, 
that they did not use the letter z, but formed a repre- 
sentative for it by a combination of k or ch with s, as in 
Secstinal = Sextinia natus, and Elchsntre = 'AXeljavSpos. 
Paleeographical. considerations also indicate that the letter 
corresponded in form, not to £ or x, but to the Greek z. 
We ought, however, to go a step further than Lepsius has 
done, and say that the Latin x was, after all, in one of its 
values, a representative of this Etruscan letter. It is true, 
indeed, that x does represent also the combination of a 
guttural and sibilant; but there are cases, on the other 



104 



THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 



[Ch. V. 



hand, in which x is found in Latin words containing roots 
into which no guttural enters : comp. rixa with epi9 (epi- 
80$), ipi£(o, &c. In these cases it must be supposed to 
stand as a representative of the Greek £ in its sound sh, 
and also of the Hebrew shin, from which ft has derived its 
name (see New Or at. p. 130). With regard to the name 
Ulysses, Ulyxes, 'OSvcraeiK;, etymology would rather shew 
that the ultimate form of the x, ss, or z, was a softened 
dental. The Tuscan name of this hero was Nanus, i.e. 
" the pygmy" (Muller, Etrusk. ii. p. 269); and, according 
to Eustathius (p. 289, 38), 'OXvcraeix; or '0\Mraev<i was the 
original form of the Greek name. From these data it has 
been happily conjectured (by Kenrick, Herod, p. 281) that 
the name means o-\t%o<;, o-Xhto-o?, JEo\. for 6-Xfyo? (Eu- 
stath. 1160, 16), of which the simplest form is Xito?, little: 
so that Ulysses, in the primitive conception, was a god 
represented in a diminutive form. 



The materials, which are at present available for an 
approximate philological interpretation of the Tuscan lan- 
guage, may be divided into three classes : (1) the names of 
deities, &c. whose titles and attributes are familiar to us 
from the mythology of Greece and Rome ; (2) the Tuscan 
words which have descended to us with an interpretation ; 
and (3) the inscriptions, sepulchral or otherwise, of which 
we possess accurate transcripts. Let us consider these 
three in their order. 

The Tuscans seem to have worshipped three gods es- 
pecially as rulers of the sky, — Janus, god of the sky in 
general ; Jupiter, whom they called Tina, god of the day ; 
and Summanus, god of the night. Of these, Janus and Tina 
are virtually the same designation. The root dyd seems to 
be appropriated in a great many languages to signify " day" 
or " daylight." See Grimm, Deut. Mythol. 2d ed. p. 177. 
Sometimes it stands absolutely, as in dies ; sometimes with 



§ 2.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 105 

a labial affix, as in the Sanscr. dyii, Gr. Zeu?, Lat. deus ; 
sometimes it appears in a secondary form, as in the Hebr. 
yom, Gr. rj/xipa ; and sometimes it has a dental affix, as in 
the Gr. Zrjv, Lat. or Tusc. Janus. It is sufficiently esta- 
blished that dj,j, y, are different forms of the same articu- 
lation, which is also expressed by the Greek £. The fem. 
of Janus was Diana : Jupiter and Diespiter were the same 
word. The Greeks had lost their ^'-sound, except so far as 
it was implied in £; but I have proved elsewhere that the 
t] also contained its ultimate resolution. 1 That Tina con- 
tains the same root as Z?]v=Dyan may be proved by an 
important Greek analogy. If we compare the Greek in- 
terrogative Tt9 with its Latin equivalent quis, admitting, as 
we must, that they had a common origin, we at once per- 
ceive that the Greek form has lost every trace of the labial 
element of the Latin qu, while the guttural is preserved in 
the softened form ri—j. Supposing that kas was the 
proper form of the interrogative after the omission of the 
labial, then, when k was softened into j=di, as quare, &c. 
became cur, &c, in the same way this would become t/?, 
the tenuis being preferred to the medial. 2 Just so in the 

1 N. Crat. pp. 130, 181. 

2 The crude form of ris is rt-v- (ri-v6s, &c.) ; in other words, it is a com- 
pound of two pronominal elements, like els ( = eV-s), net-vos, rrj-vos, a-va, 
e-nim, e-na, &c. Lobeck asserts (Paralipom. p. 121, note) that the v in 
n-v-6s is repugnant to all analogy, the liter a cliticce of the Greeks being 
dentals only, — as if v were not a dental ! The absurdity of Lobeck' s remarks 
here, arid in many other passages of his later writings, will serve to shew how 
necessary it is that an etymologer should be acquainted with the principles of 
comparative philology. There are some observations on this subject in the 
N. Crat. p. 38, which more particularly refer to Lobeck (Aglaopham. p. 478, 
note i.) ( and to a very inferior man, his pupil Ellendt {Lex. Sophocl. prsefat. 
p. iii.). From what Lobeck said in his Paralipomena (p. 126, note), one felt 
disposed to hope that his old-fashioned prejudices were beginning to yield to 
conviction. In his new work, however (Pathologia, prsef. p. vii. sqq.), he 
reappears in his original character. The caution on which he plumes himself 
(" ego quoque ssepe vel invitus et ingratis eo adactus sum ut vocabulorum 



106 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. V. 

Etruscan language, which had no medials, Ztfv=dian-us 
would become Tina-[s\ or Tinia-[s\. This Tina or Jupi- 
ter of the Tuscans was emphatically the god of light and 
lightning, and with Juno and Minerva formed a group who 
were joined together in the special worship of the old Ita- 
lians. As the Etruscans had no consonant j, the name 
of Janus must have been pronounced by them as Zanus. 
This god, whose four-faced statue was brought from Falerii 
to Rome, indicated the sky, or templum, with its four 
regions. When he appeared as biceps, he represented the 
main regions of the templum — the decumanus and the 
cardo. And as this augurial reference was intimately con- 
nected with the arrangement of the gates in a city or a 
camp, 1 he became also the god of gates, and his name ulti- 
mately signified " a gate" or " archway." Summanus, or 
Submanus, was the god of nightly thunders. The usual 
etymology is summus manium ; but there is little reason 
for supposing that it is a common Latin word. As Arno- 
bius considers him identical with Pluto, 2 it seems reason-' 
able to conclude that he was simply the Jupiter Infernus ; 
and as the Dispater of the Tuscans was called Mantus, and 
his wife Mania, we may conjecture that Sub-manus was 
perhaps in Tuscan Zuv-manus or Jupiter-bonus, which is 
the common euphemism in speaking of the infernal deities. 
The connexion between the nightly thunders, which the 

origines abditas conjectura qusererem, cautior fortasse Cratylis nostris, quo- 
rum curiositati nihil clausum, nihil impervium est,") is only another name for 
one-sided obstinacy ; and whatever value we may set upon Lobeck's actual 
performances in his own field, we cannot concede to him the right of confin- 
ing all other scholars to the narrow limits of his Hemsterhusian philology. 

1 See below, Ch. VII. § 6. 

2 The Glossar. Labbsei has Summanus, Upo/x^e^vs ; and perhaps Prome- 
theus, as the stealer of fire from heaven, may have been identified with the 
god of nightly thunders in some forms of mythology. At Colonus, where the 
infernal deities were especially worshipped, the tlto,v Hpoixt)devs t 6 nvpcpSpos 
6e6s, was reckoned among them ((Ed. Col. 55). 



§ 2.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 107 

ancients so greatly feared, and the yOovlat ftpovrai, is 
obvious. Another gloomy form of the supreme god was 
Ve-djus or Ve-jovis, who seems to have represented Apollo 
in his character of the causer of sudden death. The prefix 
Ve- is a disqualifying negative — the name signifies " the 
had Jupiter." He was represented as a young man armed 
with arrows ; his feast was on the nones of March, when 
an atoning sacrifice was offered up to him ; and he was 
considered, like Summanus, as another form of Pluto. 

The second of the great Tuscan deities was Juno (Jovino 
or Dyuno), who was called Kupra and Thalna in the Etru- 
rian language. Now Kupra signifies " good," as has been 
shewn above ; and therefore Dea kupra is Dea bona, the 
common euphemism for Proserpine. The name Thalna 
may be analysed with the aid of the principles developed 
above. The Etruscans had a tendency to employ the as- 
pirates for the tenues, where in other forms, and in Greek 
especially, the tenues were used. Accordingly, if we arti- 
culate between the liquids In, and substitute t for th, we 
shall have, as the name of Juno, the goddess of marriage, 
the form Tal[a\na, which at once suggests the root of Ta- 
lassus, the Roman Hymen, the Greek toXis, Soph. Antig. 
629. raXis' r/ vvficfir), Zonar. p. 1711. rd\i<;' rj fieXXo- 
Y<z/409 irapQkvo^ ko\ Karcovopuaapbevq rivt' oi Se yvvalfca 
<ya/j,errjv' ol&e vv/.i(f)7]v, Hesych. rrfkiha' ovrco rrjv avvr/p- 
fioa-/j,evr]v, id. SaTu'Sa.? - Ta<? /£€/jLvrjGTevfxeva<;, id. to\i%' 
e/?&>9, id. : comp. also jd/ioio reXos, Horn. Od. xx. 74, 
and the epithet "Hpa rekeia. The Aramaean TaXidd 
(rpbrj, Mark v. 41) is not perhaps to be referred to this 
class. 

The deity Vulcanus, who in the Etruscan mythology 
was one of the chief gods, being one of the nine thunder- 
ing gods, and who in other mythologies appears in the first 
rank of divinities, always stands in a near "relationship to 
Juno. In the Greek theogony he appears as her son and 



108 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. V. 

defender; he is sometimes the rival, and sometimes the 
duplicate, of his brother Mars ; and it is possible that in 
the Egyptian calendar he may have been a kind of Jupiter. 
Here we are only concerned with the form of his Etruscan 
name, which was Sethlans. Applying the same principles 
as before, we collect that it is only Se-tal[a]nus, a mascu- 
line form of Tal\a\na (=Juno) with the prefix Se- : comp. 
the Greek rj-Xios, ae-Xrjvr], with the Latin Sol, Luna, 
where the feminine, like Tal\a\na, has lost the prefix. 

To the two deities Tina and Talna, whose names, with 
their adjuncts, I have just examined, the Etruscans added 
a third, Minerva, or, as they called her, Menerfa, Menrfa, 
who was so closely connected with them in the reverence 
of this people, that they did not consider a city complete 
if it had not three gates and three temples dedicated to 
Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. She was the goddess of the 
storms prevalent about the time of the vernal equinox ; 
and her feast, the quinquatrus, was held, as that word im- 
plied in the Tuscan language, on the fifth day after the 
ides of March. The name seems to have been synony- 
mous with the Greek /jLrJTis ; the word bears the same re- 
lation to mens that luerves (in the Arval hymn) does to 
lues : this appears from the use of the verb promenervat 
(pro monet, Fest. p. 205). 

It is easy to explain the names Sdturnus, Vertumnus, 
Mars, and Feronia, from the elements of the Latin lan- 
guage. Sdturnus =Kpovos is connected with ste-culum, as 
<2-ternus with cevum (the full form being avi-ternus, Varro, 
L.L.vi. § 11), sempi-ternus with semper, and taci-turnus 
with taceo. Vertumnus is the old participle of vertor, " I 
turn myself." Mars is simply " the slayer :" comp. Md- 
mers, " the man-slayer." The attributes of the goddess 
Feronia are by no means accurately known : there seems, 
however, to be little doubt that she was an elementary 
goddess, and as such perhaps also a subterraneous deity, 



§ 2.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 109 

so that her name will be connected with feralis, <f>0el- 
peiv, (f)epae(f)6v7}, &c. 

AevKoOea, " the white goddess," had a Tuscan repre- 
sentative in the Mater matuta, " mother of the morning," 
whose attribute is referred to in the Greek name, which 
designates the pale silvery light of the early dawn. Both 
goddesses were probably also identical with El\el0via, 
Lucina, the divinity who brought children from the dark- 
ness of the womb into the light of life. Sothina, a name 
which occurs in Etruscan monuments (Lanzi, ii. p. 494), is 
probably the Etruscan transcription of the Greek Xowhlva 
(" saving from child-bed pains"), which was an epithet of 
Artemis (see Bockh, Corp. Inscr. no. 1595). 

Apollo was an adopted Greek name, the Tuscan form 
being Apulu, Aplu, Epul, or Epure. If the " custos So- 
ractis Apollo," to whom the learned Virgil {JEn. xi. 786) 
makes a Tuscan pray, was a native Etruscan god, then his 
name Soranus, and the name of the mountain Soracte, 
must be Tuscan words, and contain the Latin sol, with the 
change from I to r observable in the form Epure for Epul : 
compare also the Sanscr. Surya. 

Although Neptunus was an important god in the Tus- 
can pantheon, it is by no means certain that this was the 
Tuscan form of his name : if it was, then we have another 
Tuscan word easily explicable from the roots of the Indo- 
Germanic language ; for Nep-tunus is clearly connected 
with via, Nrjpevs, vItttw, &c. The form Neptumnus (ap. 
Grut. p. 460) is simply the participle vfKr6^evo<i. If the 
word Nethuns, which is found on a Tuscan mirror over a 
figure manifestly intended for Neptune (Berlin. Jahrb. for 
August 1841, p. 221), is to be considered as the genuine 
form of the sea-god's name, there will of course be no 
difficulty in referring it to the same root (see below, § 5, 
note). 

The Tuscan Pluto, as is well known, was called Man- 



110 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. V. 

tus, and from him the city Mantua derived its name. The 
etymology of this word is somewhat confused by its con- 
tact with the names manes and mania. That the latter 
are connected with the old word manus — bonus can hardly 
be doubted ; l and the deprecatory euphemism of such a 
designation is quite in accordance with the ancient mode 
of addressing these mysterious functionaries of the lower 
world. But then it is difficult to explain Mantus as a 
derivative from this manus. Now, as he is represented 
in all the Tuscan monuments as a huge wide-mouthed 
monster with a persona pallentis hiatus, it seems better 
to understand his name as signifying " the devourer ;" in 
which sense he may be compared with the yawning and 
roaring Charon. 2 This, at any rate, was the idea conveyed 
by the manducus, another form of mantus ; for this was an 
image " magnis malis ac late dehiscens et ingentem denti- 
bus sonitum faciens" (Fest. p. 128). The two words may 
be connected with ma-n-dere, naaatrOai, the n, which is 
necessary in manus, manes, being here only euphonical : 
similarly, we have masucium, edacem a mandendo scilicet 
(Fest. p. 189), and me-n-tum by the side of fxarvai (=<yva- 
0oi, Hesych.). Compare also mala, maxilla, &c. It is 
not improbable that the Greek, or perhaps Pelasgic, [idv- 

1 Varro seems to connect the word Manius with mane, " morning" 
(L.L. ix. § 60). 

2 See N. Crat. p. 364. Another personage of the same kind is Tripvtav, 
" the caller." As Charon is attended by the three-headed Kepfiepos, so the 
three-bodied Geryon has a two-headed dog, "Opdpos, who is brother to Cer- 
berus (Hesiod. Theog. 308, sqq.); that is, " the morning" (opdpos) is brother 
to " the darkness" (jiipfrepos : vide Schol. Od. A, 14, and Porson ad I.; Ke/x- 
fiepos' a%A.vs, Hesych. ; and Lobeck, Paralipom. p. 32). By a similar iden- 
tity, Geryon lives in the distant west, in Erythia, the land of darkness, just 
as Charon is placed in Hades ; and these two beings, with their respective 
dogs, both figure in the mythology of Hercules, who appears as the enemy 
of Pluto, and of his type, Eurystheus. It may be remarked, too, that Pluto 
is described as an owner of flocks and herds, which is the chief feature in the 
representations of Geryon. 



§2.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. Ill 

Tt<? contains this root. The mysterious art of divination 
was connected, in one at least of its branches, with the 
rites of the infernal gods. Teiresias, the blind prophet, 
was especially the prophet of the dark regions. Now 
Mantua, according to Virgil, was founded by Ocnus, " the 
bird of omen," who was the son of Manto, and through 
her the grandson of Teiresias. This at least is legendary 
evidence of a connexion between mantus and fiavri?. The 
same root is contained in the mythical mundus (Miiller, 
Etrusk. ii. p. 96). 

The name Ceres is connected with creare, Sanscr. kri. 
The Tuscan name Ancaria may be explained by a compa- 
rison of ancilla, anclare, oncare, eveyicelv, ay teds, &c. 

According to Servius, Ceres, Pales, and Fortuna, were 
the three Penates of the Etruscans (see Micali, Storia, ii. 
p. 117). The last of these three was one of the most im- 
portant divinities in Etruria, and especially at Volsinii, 
where she bore the name Nortia, Norsia, or Nursia, and 
was the goddess of the calendar or year (Cincius, ap. Liv. 
vii. 3). The nails, by which the calendar was marked 
there, pointed to the fixed and unalterable character of 
the decrees of fate. The Fortuna of Antium had the nail 
as her attribute, and the clavi trabales and other imple- 
ments for fastening marked her partner Necessitas (Hor. i. 
Carm. xxxv. 17, sqq.) ; under the Greek name of "ArpoTrof; 
(Athrpa) she is represented on a Tuscan patera as fixing 
the destiny of MeXewypos (Meliacr) by driving in a nail ; 
though it is clear from the wings that the name only is 
Greek, while the figure of the deity is genuine Etruscan 
(Miiller, Etrusk. ii. p. 331). From these considerations it 
seems a safe inference that Nortia, or Nursia, is simply ne- 
vortia, ne-vertia, the "A-Tpoiros, or " unturning, unchanging 
goddess," according to the consistent analogy of rursus= 
re-versus,quorsus=quo-versus,introrsus=intra-versus, Sec. : 
and this supposition receives additional confirmation from 



112 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. V. 

the statement mentioned below (§ 3), that vorsus was ac- 
tually a Tuscan word. 

The god Merquurius appears on the Tuscan monu- 
ments as Turms = Turmus. This Etruscan name has been 
well explained by the Jesuit G. P. Secchi [Annali delV 
Institute), viii. p. 94, sqq.). It appears that Lycophron, 
who elsewhere uses genuine Italian names of deities and 
heroes (as Mafxepros for "Apr}?, vv. 938, 1410 ; Navos for 
'OSvaaevs, v. 1244), calls the %#6wo9 'Epfjurj? by the name 
TepfAiev? (Alex. 705, sqq.): 

\{)jlv7)v r' "Aopvov b.n<pnoQVT\Thv fSpoxf 
K<x\ %eu/«« Kwkvtolo XafSpcoQev ctk6tcj> 
^rvybs KeXcuvrjs vafffiSv, evda Tep/xiebs 
6pK(i>/j.6Tovs eTev£ei/ a.<pd'novs e'Sgas 
fieWwv ylyaisras na.ir\ riTrjvas irepav. 

Now Turmus certainly does not differ more from this Tep- 
uiev<; than Euturpe and Achle from their Greek represen- 
tatives (Bunsen, ibid. p. 175). It might seem, then, that 
Turmus is not the Latin Terminus, but rather the Greek 
'Epfifc ; for the Hellenic aspirate being represented in the 
Pelasgian language, according to rule, by the sibilant, this 
might pass into T, as in r)pbipa, arjpiepov, Trj/jbepov ; enTa, 
Tewra, Hesych. ; epfik, reppics, id. &c. 

The name Lar, Las, when it signifies " lord " or 
" noble," has the addition of a prenominal affix -t ; when 
it signifies " god," it is the simple root : the former is 
Lars (Larth), gen. Lartis ; the latter Lar, gen. Laris., 
Precisely the same difference is observable in a comparison 
between "Avaice<;, "Ava/coi, " the Dios-curi," and avaic-re?, 
" kings" or " nobles." Some suppose that the English 
Lor-d is connected with the same root ; see, however, New 
Crat. p. 418; and as the Lares were connected with the 
Cabiriac and Curetic worship of the more eastern Pelas- 
gians, I would rather seek the etymology in the root ~ka-, 
\a$- } \ai$-, so frequently occurring in the names of places 



§3.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 113 

and persons connected with that worship, 1 and expressing 
the devouring nature of fire. It appears from the word 
Lar-va that the Lar was represented as a wide-mouthed 
figure. There are two feminine foims of the name, Lar- 
unda and Lar-entia. 

This enumeration of the names of Tuscan divinities 
shews that, as far as the terms of mythology are concerned 
(and there are few terms less mutable), the Tuscan lan- 
guage does not absolutely escape from the grasp of ety- 
mology. The common words which have been handed 
down to us present similar traces of affinity to the lan- 
guages of the Indo - Germanic family. I will examine 
them in alphabetical order ; though, unfortunately, they 
are not so numerous as to assume the form of a compre- 
hensive vocabulary of the language. 

JEsar, " God." Sueton. Octav. c. 97 : " Responsum est § 3. 

. ,. ,, . , Alphabetical 

centum solos dies posthac victurum, quern numerum c u s t of Etruscan 
littera notaret; futurumque ut inter deos referretur, word smter- 
quod .esar, id est, reliqua pars e Ceesaris nomine, 
Etrusca lingua deus vocaretur." Conf. Dio. Cass. lvi. 
29; Hesych. aicroi' 6eoi y biro Tvpprjvoiv. See Ritter, 
Vorhalle, pp. 300, 471, who compares the Cabiric 
names JEs-mun, JEs-clef, the proper name JEsyetes, 
asa the old form of ara, and a great many other 
words implying " holiness" or " sanctity:" and Grimm, 
Deutsche Mythol. 2d edit. p. 22. Comp. also cucra. 
Aifil, " age." This word frequently occurs in sepulchral 
inscriptions with a numeral attached. In one of these 
we have, Cf[e~\cfiilf . Papa aif . xxn., with the Latin 
translation, Guegilii Papii cetatis xxn. It is obvious, 
then, that this word contains the same root as (jev-um, 

1 The following are some of the most obvious appearances of this root : 
Sanscrit, las, "to wish;" Latin, lar-gus ; Greek, \a /j.ia, Aa-^uos, \dpvy!-, 
Xair/xa, &c. Arj/xfos, Arird. 

I 



114 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. V. 

cB-tas, atFcov, alFei, &c. The Pelasgo-Tyrrhenian lan- 
guage always inserts the digamma in these cases : com- 
pare Aim, written Aifas on the Tuscan monuments. 

Arime, " ape." Strabo, xiii. p. 626 d. : /cat tovs 7ri0rj- 
kovs tfiacrl irapa tois Tvpprjvois apl/juovs icakelcrdat. 
Hesych. : api/io?" iriOrjKoq. There is no certainty 
about this word. The commentators would connect it 
with the Hebrew D^n (chdrum), Levit. xxi. 18, which 
signifies " snub-nosed," simus ; but this is merely fan- 
ciful. 

Arse-verse. Fest. p. 18: " Arseverse averte ignem signi- 
ficat. Tuscorum enim lingua arse averte, verse ignem 
constat appellari. Unde Afranius ait : Inscribat aliquis 
in ostio arseverse." An inscription found at Cortona 
contains the following words : Arses vurses Sethlanl 
tephral ape termnu pisest estu (Orelli. no. 1384). Miil- 
ler considers this genuine {quern quominus genuinum ha- 
beamus nihil vetat) ; Lepsius will not allow its authen- 
ticity, but thinks it is made up of words borrowed from 
other sources. Be that as it may, the words arse verse 
must be admitted as genuine Etruscan ; and they are 
also cited by Placidus (Gloss, apud Maimn, p. 434). It 
seems probable that arse is merely the Latin arce with 
the usual softening of the guttural ; and verse contains 
the root of irvp, pir, feuer, her, &c. Pott (Et. Forsch. 
i. p. 101) seems to prefer taking verse as the verb, Lat. 
verte, and arse as the noun, comp. ardere. If the Cor- 
tona inscription is genuine, its meaning must be, " Avert 
the fire, O consuming Vulcan, from the bounds of this 
house." 

Atrium, " the cavcedium" or common hall in a Roman 
house. Varro, L. L. v. § 161 : " Cavum cedium dictum, 
qui locus tectus intra parietes relinquebatur patulus, 
qui esset ad communem omnium usum . . . Tuscanicum 
dictum a Tuscis, posteaquam illorum cavum asdium 



§3.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 115 

simulare coeperunt. Atrium appellatum ab Atriatibus 
Tuscis ; illinc enim exemplum sumptum." Miiller 
(Etrusk. i. p. 256) adopts this etymology (which is also 
suggested by Festus, p. 13), with the explanation, that 
the name is not derived from Atrias because the people 
of that place invented it, but from a reference to the 
geographical position of Atrias, which, standing at the 
confluence of many rivers, might be supposed to repre- 
sent the compluvium of the atrium. This geographical 
etymology appears to me very far-fetched and impro- 
bable ; nor, indeed, do I see the possibility of deriving 
atrium from atrias ; the converse would be the natural 
process. There does not appear to be any objection to 
the etymology suggested by Servius (ad AEn. iii. 353), 
" ab atro, propter fumum qui esse solebat in atriis .-" 
and we may compare the corresponding Greek term 
[juekaOpov. If atrium, then, was a Tuscan word, the 
Latin ater also was of Pelasgian origin. The connexion 
of atrium with aWptov, aWovaa, &c, suggested by 
Scaliger and others, may be adopted, if we derive 
the word from the Tuscan atrus, which signifies " a 
day." 

Balteus, " the military girdle," is stated by Varro (Antiq. 
R. Hum. 18. ap. Sosip. i. p. 51) to have been a Tuscan 
word. It also occurs, with the same meaning, in all 
the languages of the German family ; and we have it 
still in our word " belt." 

Capys, " a falcon." Servius (ad AEn. x. 145) : " Constat 
earn (capuam) a Tuscis conditam de viso falconis au- 
gurio, qui Tusca lingua capys dicitur." Fest. p. 43 : 
" Capuam in Campania quidam a Capye appellatam 
ferunt, quern a pede introrsus curvato nominatum an- 
tiqui nostri Falconem vocant." For the meaning of 
the word falcones, see Fest. s. v. p. 88. If capys = 
falco, it should seem that cap-ys contains the root of 



116 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. V. 

cap-ere ; for this would be the natural derivation of the 
name. 1 

Cassis, " a helmet" (more anciently cass-ila, Fest. p. 48). 
Isidor. Origg. xviii. 14 : " Cassidem autem a Tuscis 
nominatam dicunt." The proper form was capsis, as 
the same writer tells us ; but the assimilation hardly dis- 
guises the obvious connexion of the word with cap-ut, 
haup-t, &c. Comp. kottikclI' at 7repi,Ke(f>a\alai, with 
t?}9 kottiSos' Aoopiels he rrjv fcecpaXrjv outgo koXovctiv. 
J. Pollux, ii. 29. 

Falandum, " the sky." Fest. p. 88 : " Falce [(pd\ac opr), 
aicoiriai, Hesych.] dictas ab altitudine, a falando, quod 
apud Etruscos significat coelum." This is generally 
connected with (j>d\av0ov, blond, &c. Or we might 
go a step further, and refer it to (frdWco, <pa\6<i, &c, 
which are obviously derived from (jxio? : see Lobeck, 
Pathol, p. 87. 

Favissa, " an excavation." Fest. p. 88 : " Favisscs locum 
sic appellabant, in quo erat aqua inclusa circa templa. 
Sunt autem, qui putant, favissas esse in Capitolio cellis 
cisternisque similes, ubi reponi erant solita ea, quae in 
templo vetustate erant facta inutilia." From the ana- 
logy of favissa, mantissa, and from the circumstance 
that the Romans seem to have learned to make favissce 
from the Etruscans, it is inferred that favissa was a 
Tuscan word : see Muller, ad Festi locum, and Etrusk. 
ii. p. 239. The word is probably connected with fovea, 
bauen, &c. 

1 See New Cratylus, p. 550. To the instances there cited the following 
maybe added: (a) aba, " a dog," i.e. "the yelp-ev." (b) yp, "a raven" 
(corv-us, Sanscr. kdrav-), i.e. "a cawing bird." (c) fiovs, Sanscr. gaus, 
" the bellowing or lowing animal:" comp. /Soaw with yodco, and the latter 
with the Hebrew rtsi, mugire, " to low like an ox" (1 Sam. vi. 12, Job vi. 5), 
and the Latin ceva, which, according to Columella (vi. 24), was the name 
of the cow at Altinum on the Adriatic, (d) xy"> " the goose," i.e. " the 
gaping bird" (xV Kex 7 )^^) Athen. p. 519 a). 



§3.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 117 

Februum, " a purification." Angrius, ap. J. Lyd de Mens. 
p. 70 : " Februum inferum esse Thuscorum lingua." 
Also Sabine: see Varro, L. L. vi. § 13. If we com- 
pare febris, &c, we shall perhaps connect the root with 
foveo=torreo, whence favilla, &c, and understand the 
" torrida cum mica farra," which, according to Ovid 
{Fast. ii. 24), were called by this name. 

Fentlia, according to Lactantius {de Fals. Relig. i. c. 22, 
§ 9), was the old Italian name of Fatua, the feminine 
form of Faunus, " quod mulieribus fata canere consue- 
visset, ut Faunus viris." The form Finthia seems to 
occur on an old Tuscan monument {Ann. delV Instit. 
viii. p. 76), and is therefore perhaps a Tuscan word. 
The analogy of Fentha to Fatua is the same as that 
which has been pointed out above in the case of Man- 
tus. The n is a kind of aniiswdrah very common in 
Latin : comp. e^t?, anguis ; Xeiirm, linquo ; A-e/^w, 
lingo; Sanscr. tuddmi, tundo ; vhwp, unda ; Sec. 

Uaruspex is generally considered to have been an Etruscan 
word. Strabo, xvi. p. 762, renders it by iepo<x/<;o7ro9 : 
asa or ara certainly implied " holiness" in the Tuscan 
language; and Hesychius has the gloss, apaicor lepat;, 
Tvppr)vot, which shews the same change from lep- to 
liar-. If these analogies are not overthrown by the 
Inscriptio bilinguis of Pisaurum {Fabrett. Inscr. c. x. 
n. 171, p. 646; Oliv. Marm. Pisaur. n. 27, p. 11; 
Lanzi, ii. p. 652, n. 8, where [Caf~\atius L. f. Ste. 
karuspex fulguriator is translated by Caphates Ls. Ls. 
Netmfis Trutnft Phruntac), we may perhaps conclude 
that haruspex was the genuine Pelasgian form, trutnft 
being the Umbro-Tuscan synonyme. 

Hister, " an actor." Liv. vii. 2 : " Sine carmine ullo, sine 
imitandorum carminum actu, ludiones ex Etruria adciti, 
ad tibicinis modos saltantes, haud indecoros motus more 
Tusco dabant. Imitari deinde eos juventus, simul in- 



118 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. V. 

conditis inter se jocularia fundentes versibus ccepere, 
nee absoni a voce motus erant. Accepta itaque res 
saepiusque usurpando excitata. Vernaculis artificibus, 
quia hister Tusco verbo ludio vocabatur, nomen histrio- 
nibus inditum : qui non, sicut ante Fescennino versu, 
similem incompositum temere ac rudem altenris jacie- 
bant ; sed inpletas modis saturas, descripto jam ad tibi- 
cinem cantu motuque congruenti peragebant." It ap- 
pears from this, and from all we read of the hister, that 
he was a mimic actor ; his dance is compared by Diony- 
sius to the Sicinnis; so that the word seems to be synony- 
mous with Sei/crj\ltcT7)<;, and the root is the pronoun i- or 
hi- (N. Crat. p. 170), which also enters into the cognate 
words i-mitor, l-o-os, eU-wv, Sec, and appears in the ter- 
mination of oleaster, &c. (Lobeck, Pathol, p. 79.) 
Itus, " the division of the month." Varro, L. L. vi. § 28 : 
" Idus ab eo quod Tusci itus." Cf. Macrob. Sat. i. 15. 
As itus was the Si^o/nTjvla of the Tuscan lunar month, 
its connexion with the root id- ox fid- is obvious : comp. 
di-vido, vid-uus, &c. So Horat. iv. Carm. xi. 14 : 

idus tibi sunt agendse, 
Qui dies mensem Veneris marinse 
Findit aprilem. 

Lcena, " a double cloak." Fest. p. 117 : " Quidam appel- 
latam existimant Tusce, quidam Graece, quam •)(Xavlha 
dicunt." If it be a Tuscan word, it is very like the 
Greek: compare luridus, lac, \iap6$, Sec, with ^\cop6<;, 
<yd-\a 3 x-Xiapos, &c. Varro (-Z*. L. v. § 133) derives it 
from lana. 

Lanista, " a keeper of gladiators." Isidor. Origg. x. p. 
247 : " Lanista gladiator, i. e. carnifex Tusca lingua 
appellatus." Comp. lanius, &c, from the root lac-. 

Lar, " a lord." Explained above. 

Lituus, " an augur's staff, curved at the end ;" also " a 
curved trumpet:" see Cic. Divin. ii. 18; Liv. i. 18. 



§3.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 119 

It constantly occurs on Etruscan monuments (see In- 
ghirami, vi. tav. p. 5, 1). Miiller justly considers this 
word an adjective signifying " crooked " (Etrusk. ii. 
p. 212). It contains the root U-, found in li-quis, ob- 
liquus, li-ra, li-tus (TrXdyios), \e%pio$, Xud^etv, Sec. 

Lucumo, whence the Roman praenomen Lucius (Valer. 
Max. de Nomin. 18), " a nohle." The Tuscan form 
was Lauchme, which the Umbrian Propertius has pre- 
served in his transcription Lucmo {EL iv. 1, 29) : prima 
galeritus posuit prcetoria Lucmo. The word contains 
the root luc-, and may therefore be compared with the 
Greek TeXeovres, designating, like the Tuscan term, 
a noble and priestly tribe (N. Crat. p. 558). The 
ipydSeis correspond to the Aruntes, who are regularly 
contrasted with the Lucumones (above, p. 71). 

Ludus. The ancients derived this word from the Lydian 
origin of the Etruscans, from whom the Romans first 
borrowed their dancers and players. Dionys. Antiqu. 
ii. 71 : Kakovfjuevot Trpos avroiv eVt rr}<i TratSias rr}<; 
vtto Avhtav i^evprjaOat 8o/covcr7]<; Xv8ta>ve<>, el/coves, 
ft)? ijjbol Sofce?, roiv 2aXta>v. Appian, viii. de Reb. Pun. 
c. 66 : X°P 0<i KiQapiarwv re /cal TLrvpicrroov et? {Jbipurj- 
fiara TvpprjviKrj<i iroybirr\^ . . . AvSovs avrovs KaXovacv, 
ore {olfiai) Tvpprjvol AuScov airoiicoi. Isidor. p. 1274: 
" Inde Romani accersitos artifices mutuati sunt, et inde 
ludi a Lydiis vocati sunt." Hesych. ii. p. 506 : Av Sol 
ovtol ras Qka<i evpelvXeyovrat, odev ical 'Pcofiatoo Xov- 
&ov<i (pao-L. Comp. also Valer. Max. ii. 4, 4; Tertull. 
de Sped. v. The derivation from the ethnic name Ly- 
dius is of course a mere fancy. It does not, however, 
seem improbable that, as the armed dances as well as 
the clownish buffooneries of the Romans were derived 
from Etruria, the name which designated these as jokers 
and players (ludiones) was Etruscan also,- like the other 
name hister, which denoted the imitative actor. If so, 



120 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. V. 

the word Indus was also of Tuscan or Pelasgian origin. 
Now this word Indus is admirably adapted to express 
all the functions of the Tuscan ludio. It is connected 
with the roots of Icedo (comp. cudo, ctedo), \oi8opos, 
\l£(o, \dcrd(o (==7rai^co, Hesych.). Consequently, it 
expresses on the one hand the amusement afforded by 
the gesticulations of the ludio {a^fjbart^erai, ttolkI\co<; 
el$ je\(OTa, Appian, u. s.), and on the other hand in- 
dicates the innocent brandishing of weapons by the 
armed ludio as compared with the use of arms in actual 
warfare. This latter sense was preserved by ludus to 
the last, as it signified the school in which the gladia- 
tors played or fenced with wooden foils {rudes) pre- 
paratory to the bloody encounters of the arena. That 
the ludiones were Tuscans even in the classical age, is 
clear from Plautus, Curculio, i. 2, 60, sqq. : " pe'ssuli, 
heus, pessuli, vos saluto lubens — fite causa mea ludii 
bdrbari; subsilite, obsecro, et mittite istanc foras," 
punning on the resemblance of pessuli to the prcesules 
of these Tuscan dancers (see Non. Marc. c. xii. de Doc- 
torum Indagine, p. 783, Gottofr.). 

Luna, the Tuscan port, probably got its name from the 
half-moon shape of the harbour. See Pers. vi. 7, 8 ; 
Strabo, v. p. 222; Martial, xiii. 30. The Tuscan 
spelling was perhaps Losna (=Lus-na), which is found 
on a patera (see Muller, Etrusk. i. p. 294). 

Manus or Manis, " good." Apparently a Tuscan word : 
at any rate, the manes were Tuscan divinities. Fest. 
p. 146, s. v. Manuos; Serv. ad JEn. i. 139, iii. 63. So 
cerus manus, in the Salian song, was creator bonus. 
Fest. p. 122, s. v. Matrem matutam ; comp. Varro, 
L. L. vii. § 26. "We may perhaps recognise the same 
root in a-mo3?ius, Lithuan. aimesnis, Greek a-/juelvwv= 
cifjuevioov. ' 

Mantisa, " weighing-meat." Fest. p. 132: " Mantisa ad- 



§ 3.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 121 

ditamentum dicitur lingua Tusca, quod ponderi adici- 
tur, sed deterius et quod sine ullo usu est. Lucilius : 
mantisa obsonia vincit." Scaliger and Voss derive it 
from manu-tensa, " eo quod manu porrigitur." It is 
more probably connected, like me-n-da, with the root 
of fiaTTjV ; compare frustum with frustra. 

Nanus, " the pygmy." Lycophr. Alex. 1244 : Ndvos 7r\a- 
valai irdvT ipevvrjaas /jlw%6v. Ubi Tzetzes : 6 'OSi/er- 
crev9 irapd rols Tvpo-qvoLS vdvos fcaXelrai, St]\ovvto<; 
tov ovofiaros tov ifkavrjT'qv. This interpretation seems 
to be only a guess based on the ifKavaio-i of Lyco- 
phron. The considerations mentioned above (§ 1) leave 
it scarcely doubtful that the Tuscan word, like the 
Latin nanus, refers to the diminutive stature of the 
hero, which is also implied in his common name Ulys- 
ses. The Greek words vdvos, vdvvos, vavMnco*;, vav- 
vd^co, vdvtov, &c. have the same meaning. The word, 
therefore, being common to the Tuscans, Greeks, and 
Romans, is indubitably of Pelasgic origin. 

Nepos, " a profligate." Fest. p. ] 65 : " Nepos luxuriosus a 
Tuscis dicitur." Probably, as Miiller suggests (Etrusk. 
i. p. 277), the word which bears this meaning is not 
from the same root as the Siculian nepos, " a grandson" 
(Gr. veirovs, d-vetyios, Germ, neffe). Many etymolo- 
gies have been proposed; but I am not satisfied with 
any one of them. Might we connect the word with 
ne-potis, Gr. d-Kpart] 1 ?, aKo\a<TTO$ ? 

Phruntac=fulguriator. See the Inscriptio bilinguis quoted 
above s. v. Haruspex. "We must consider this Tuscan 
word as standing either for Furn-tacius or for fulnta- 
cius: in the former case it is connected with the Latin 
furnus, fornax, Greek irvp, Germ, feuer, &c. ; in the 
latter it may be compared with ful-geo, ful-men, <£Ai- 
7-eij/, <$\6-%, &c. It is not impossible that both roots 



\22 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. V. 

may be ultimately identical : compare creber, celeber ; 
cresco, glisco ; fcpavpoty, KdXaupo-^r ; crus, er-AceA.o<? ; 
culmen, celsus; /coXocfrdov, /cpaviov, icopv<j>% &c. 

Quinquatrus. Varro, L. L. vi. § 14: " Quinquatrus ; hie 
dies unus ab nominis errore observatur, proinde ut sint 
quinque. Dictus, ut ab Tusculanis post diem sextum 
idus similiter vocatur Sexatrus, et post diem septimum 
Septimatrus, sic hie, quod erat post diem quintum idus, 
Quinquatrus" Festus, p. 254 : " Quinquatrus appellari 
quidam putant a numero dierum qui feriis iis celebran- 
tur : qui scilicet errant tarn hercule, quam qui triduo 
Saturnalia et totidem diebus Competalia: nam omni- 
bus his singulis diebus fiunt sacra. Forma autem vo- 
cabuli ejus, exemplo multorum populorum Italicorum 
enuntiata est, quod post diem quintum iduum est is 
dies festus, ut aput Tusculanos Triatrus et Sexatrus et 
Septimatrus et Faliscos Decimatrus." See also Gell. 
N. A. ii. 21. From this we infer that in the Tuscan 
language the numeral quinque, or as they probably 
wrote it chfinchfe, signified " five," and atrus meant " a 
day." With this latter word, perhaps connected with 
aWpiov, we may compare the Tuscan atrium, according 
to the second of the etymologies proposed above. 

Ramnenses, Tities, Luceres. Varro, L. L. v. § 55: " Omnia 
haec vocabula Tusca, ut Volnius, qui tragoedias Tuscas 
scripsit, dicebat." See Miiller, Etrusk. i. p. 380. 

Ril, " a year." This word frequently occurs before nume- 
rals in sepulchral inscriptions ; and, as the word aifil=z 
cetatis generally precedes, ril is supposed with reason to 
mean annum or annos. It is true that this word does 
not resemble any synonyme in the In do- Germanic lan- 
guages ; but then, as has been justly observed by Lep- 
sius, there is no connexion between annus, eVo?, and idr, 
and yet the connexion between Greek, Latin, and Ger- 






§3.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 123 

man is universally admitted. 1 The word ril appears to 
me to contain the root ra or re, implying " flux " and 
" motion," which occurs in every language of the family, 
and which in the Pelasgian dialects sometimes furnished 
a name for great rivers (above, p. 35). Thus Tibe-ris, 
the Tuscan river, is probably " the mountain-stream ;" 
see below, § 4. The termination -I also marks the 
Tuscan patronymics, and, in the lengthened form -lius, 
serves the same office in Latin (e. g. Servi-lius from 
Servius). The Greek patronymic in -S^? expresses 
derivation or extraction, and is akin to the genitive- 
ending. This termination appears in pel-rov, pel-6-pov, 
&c, which may therefore be compared with ri-l. How 
well suited this connexion is for the expression of time 
need not be pointed out to the intelligent reader. The 
following examples from the Latin language will shew 
that the etymology is at least not inconsistent with the 
forms of speech adopted by the ancient Italians. The 
Latin name for the year — annus — of which annulus is 
a diminutive — denotes a circle or cycle — a period — 
a curve returning to itself. Now as the year was re- 
garded as a number of months, and as the moon-god- 
dess was generally the feminine form of the sun-god, 
we recognise Annus as the god of the sun, and Anna as 
the goddess of the moon ; and as she recurred through- 
out the period of the sun's course, she was further 
designated by the epithet perenna. To this Anna per- 
enna, " the ever-circling moon," the ancients dedicated 
the ides of March, the first full moon of the primitive 
year, and sacrificed to her, as Macrobius tells us (Sa- 
turn, i. 12), " ut annare perennareque commode liceat." 
The idea, therefore, attached to her name was that of 
a regular flowing, of a constant recurrence. Now this 

1 See the other instances of the same kind quoted by Dr. Prichard, Jour- 
nal of R. G. S. ix. 2, p. 209. 



124 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. V. 

is precisely the meaning of the common Latin adjective 
perennis ; and sollennis (= quod omnibus annis prce- 
slari debet, Festus, p. 298) has acquired the similar 
signification of " regular," " customary," and " indis- 
pensable." It is, perhaps, worth mentioning that in 
a Tuscan monument (Micali, Storia, pi. 36) Atlas sup- 
porting the world is called A-ril. If Atlas was the god 
of the Tuscan year, this may serve to confirm the com- 
mon interpretation of ril. 

Stroppus, "a fillet." Fest. p. 313: " Stroppus est, ut 
Ateius philologus existimat, quod Grasce arpo^nov vo- 
catur, et quod sacerdotes pro insigni habent in capite. 
Quidam coronam esse dicunt, aut quod pro corona in- 
signe in caput imponatur, quale sit strophium. Itaque 
apud Faliscos diem festum esse, qui vocetur struppe- 
aria, quia coronati ambulent. Et a Tusculanis [for 
another instance of the similarity of language between 
the people of Falerii and Tusculum see under Quinqua- 
trus~\, quod in pulvinari imponatur, Castoris struppum 
vocari." Idem, p. 347 : " Struppi vocantur in pulvina- 
ribus fasciculi de verbenis facti, qui pro deorum capiti- 
bus ponuntur." 

Subulo, " a flute-player." Varro, L. L. vii. § 35 : " Subulo 
dictus quod ita dicunt tibicines Tusci : quocirca radices 
ejus in Etruria non Latio quasrundse." Fest. p. 309: 
" Subulo Tusce tibicen dicitur ; itaque Ennius : subulo 
quondam marinas adstabat plagas." Compare sibilo, 
(rlcf)cov, si-lenus, <ri(f)\6a>, d-avcjirjXo'i, &c. Fr. siffler, 
persifler, &c. 

Toga. If toga was the name by which the Tuscans called 
their outer garment, the verb tego must have existed 
in the Tuscan language ; for this is obviously the deri- 
vation. That the Tuscans wore togas, and that the 
Romans borrowed this dress from them, is more than 
probable (Miiller, Etrusker, i. p. 262). If not, they 



§4.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 125 

must, from the expression used by Photius {Lex. s. v.), 
have called it rrjfievva, which was its name in Argos 
and Arcadia. 
Vorsus, " one hundred feet square," is quoted as both Tus- 
can and Umbrian. Fragm. de Limit, ed. Gees. p. 216 : 
" Primum agri modulum fecerunt quattuor limitibus 
clausum figurae, quadratae similem, plerumque centum 
pedum in utraque parte, quod Graeci ifKeOpov appellant, 
Tusci et Umbri vorsum." For the use of rrXedpov, 
see Eurip. Ion. 1137. The fact that vorsus is a Tus- 
can word confirms the etymologies of Vertumnus and 
Nortia. 

In passing to our third source of information respecting § 4-. 

the Tuscan language — the inscriptions which have been scr i p ti ns— 
preserved — we are at once thrown upon difficulties, w T hich difficulties at- 

r r ' tending their 

at present, perhaps, are not within the reach of a complete interpretation, 
solution. We may, indeed, derive from them some fixed 
results with regard to the structure of the language, and 
here and there we may find it possible to offer an expla- 
nation of a few words of more frequent occurrence. In 
general, however, we want a more complete collection of 
these documents ; one, too, in deciphering which the re- 
sources of palaeography have been carefully and critically 
applied. When we shall have obtained this, we shall at 
least know how far we can hope to penetrate into the 
hitherto unexplored arcana of the mysterious Etruscan 
language. 

Referring to the position, that the Umbrians and Tus- 
cans were so intermixed, that the language of the former 
had influenced, and indeed corrupted, the language of the 
latter, it would be well, if possible, to discriminate between 
those inscriptions which were least subjected to the influ- 
ences of the Umbrian population, and those which have 
almost lost their Pelasgic character. 



126 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. V. 

§ 5. Of all the Etruscan cities the least Umbrian perhaps is 

wWch'the^e" Cwe 1 or Agylla, which stands in so many important con- 

lasgian element liex ions with Rome. Its foundation by the Pelasgians is 
predominates. J ° 

attested by a great number of authorities (Serv. ad JEn. 

viii. 478; Strabo, v. p. 220; Dionys. Hal. iii. 58; Plin. 
H. N. iii. 8) : its port, Tlvp^ot, had a purely Pelasgian 
name, and the Pelasgians had founded there a temple in 
honour of EiXrjOvca (Strabo, v. 226 ; Diod. xv. 14). In 
the year 534 B.C., the people of Agylla consulted the oracle 
at Delphi respecting the removal of a curse ; and they ob- 
served, in the days of Herodotus, the gymnic and eques- 
trian games which the Pythoness prescribed (Herod, i. 167) : 
moreover, they kept up a connexion with Delphi, in the 
same manner as the cities of Greece, and had a deposit in 
the bank of the temple (Strabo, v. p. 220). 

As the Agyllaeans, then, maintained so long a distinct 
Pelasgian character, we might expect to find some charac- 
teristics in the inscriptions of Caere, or Cervetri, by which 
they might be distinguished from the monuments of north- 
ern and eastern Etruria. There is at least one very strik- 
ing justification of this supposition. On an ancient vase, 
dug up by General Galassi at Cervetri, the following in- 
scription is traced in very clear and legible characters : 

Mi ni keJuma, mi ma&u mar am lisiai dipurenai ; 
E&e erai sie epana, mi ne&u nastav hele<pu. 

It is obvious that there is an heroic rhythm in these lines ; 
the punctuation and division into words are of course con- 
jectural. Not to enter at length into interpretation, which 
must be mere guess-work, 2 this inscription differs from 

1 Lepsius {die Tyrrh. Pelasger, p. 2S) considers Ccere an Umbrian and 
not a Pelasgian word, -re being a common ending of the names of Umbrian 
towns ; thus we have Tute-re on coins for Tuder. The original name was 
perhaps Kaiere, which contains a root expressive of antiquity and nobility. 

2 As no one, however, has attempted to explain this interesting fragment 



§5.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 127 

those which are found in the Umbro-Etruscan districts, 
and especially from the Perusian cippus, in the much 
larger proportion of vowels, which are here expressed even 
before and after liquids, and in the absence of the muti- 
lated terminations in c, I, r, which are so common in the 
other monuments. 

There is another inscription, in the museum at Naples, 
which also begins with mi ni, and presents in a shorter 

of the old Pelasgian language, I may be allowed to propose the following sug- 
gestions, which will serve till some one discovers a more satisfactory clue to 
the meaning. Mi is clearly the mutilated eV-ytu. Ni is the original nega- 
tive, which in Latin always appears in a reduplicated or compounded form. 
KeQuma is the primitive form of x e ^ v > x ea / u «- Ao ' s ; XW^'h humus, &c. The 
difference of quantity in the second mi will not prevent us from identifying it 
with the first, which is lengthened by the ictus. Ma8u is the Greek fiedv, 
Sanscr. madhu. Maram is the epithet agreeing with mathu .- it contains 
the root mar-, found in Mapoov (the grandson of Bacchus), and in "Icr- /xapos, 
the site of his vineyards (see Od. ix. 196, sqq.), and probably signifying 
" ruddy" {fiaipai, /xoupa, &c). The fact that Maro was an agricultural cog- 
nomen at Mantua is an argument in favour of the Pelasgian origin of the 
root. Lisiai is the locative of lisis, an old word corresponding to lix, " ashes 
mingled with water." Qipurenai is an adjective in concord with lisiai, and 
probably containing the root of daK-roi, rdcp-pos, &c. E9e is some particle, 
perhaps the same as eth in the Perugian Inscription, 1. 3. Erai is the locative 
of erus, which constantly occurs in the Eugubine Tables, and also appears 
in the Perugian Inscription, 1. 18. Sie (probably pronounced sye) is sies = sis 
(so ar-sie= ad-sis in the Eug. Tables) ; and epana may be connected with 
ddirTai, &c, as epulis is with Sa-rravT], daps, Seiirvov, &c, or ignis with the root 
dah, " to burn." There can be little doubt that nedu means " water" in the 
Tuscan language. There is an Etruscan mirror in which the figure of Nep- 
tune has superscribed the word Nethuns = Nethu-n[u\s. The root is ne-, 
and appears under the same development in the next word, nastav (comp. 
va.o-ft.6s, vadfios, O. H. G. naz), which is probably a locative in -(pi, agreeing 
with hele<pu, which may be referred to x^ os < Police x*^ os > Latin heluo, 
&c. Some of these suggestions are more probable than the others ; but it 
would be premature to found any conclusions upon even the most certain of 
them. Thus much may be inferred, that the inscription confirms what we 
might have gathered from the shape of the vase, — namely, that it is a sort of 
funereal lachrymatory, with the same symbolical meaning as that which was 
found last year at Rougham, near Bury St. Edmunds. 



128 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. V. 

compass the same features with that which has just been 
quoted. It runs thus : 

Mi ni mulvene kevel&u ir piipliana. 

Besides these, we have a great number of inscriptions 
beginning with the syllable mi, mostly from Orvieto (i. e. 
urbs vetns, Volsinii ?) ; and an inspection of those among 
them which are most easily interpreted leaves us little 
reason to doubt that this syllable represents the verb et/n, 
which has suffered decapitation in the same manner as the 
modern Greek vd for Xva. A collection of these inscrip- 
tions has been made by Lanzi {Saggio, ii. p. 319, Epitqfi 
scelti frcu piu antichi, no. 188-200) ; and Miiller thinks 
(Etrusk. i. p. 451) that they are all pure Pelasgian. Some 
of them, indeed, seem to be almost Greek — at least, they 
are more nearly akin to Greek than to Latin. Take, for 
instance, no. 191, which has been adduced both by Miiller 
and by Lepsius, and which runs thus : 

Mi kalairufuius. 

Surely this is little else than archaic Greek : el/xl KaXatpov 
Evios. In regard to the last word at any rate, even modern 
Latin approaches more nearly to the Etruscan type. It is 
well known that the termination -al, -ul in Etruscan indi- 
cates a patronymic. Thus a figure of Apollo, found in 
Picenum, is inscribed, Jupetrul Epure, i. e. " Jupiter's 
son, Apollo." The syllable -al corresponds to the Latin 
form -alls, but in its significance as a patronymic it is 
represented rather by -i-lius, as in Servius, Servilius ; Lu- 
cius, Lucilius ; &c. According to this analogy, fi-lius, 
from jio, is nearer to the Etruscan than (fruios, from the 
Mo]ic <pvL(o (Et. M. p. 254, 16). 

There is another inscription of this class which deserves 
particular notice, because, though it is singularly like Greek, 
it contains a word which is of constant occurrence in the 



§ 5.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 129 

Umbro-Tuscan monuments. A bronze figure, representing 
Apollo crowned with laurel, has the following inscription : 

Ml phleres Epul . . . phe Arilimi . 

Phasti Ruphrua turce clen ceca. 
The first sentence must mean : sum donarium Apollini et 
Artemidi. The form Ari-timi-, as from Ar-timi-s, instead 
of the Greek , 'Ap-re/ja,[S']<;, is instructive. We might sup- 
pose from this that Ari-timi-s, the " virgin of the sea" 
(above, pp. 37, 39), and Api-6ovcra, " the virgin swiftly 
flowing," were different types of one and the same goddess. 
'ApTe/j,rjs appears to me to be a derivative from 'Apre/xis. 
The next words probably contain the name and description 
of the person who made the offering. The name seems to 
have been Fastia Rufrunia. Lanzi and Miiller recognise 
a verb in turce, which is of frequent occurrence on the 
Etruscan monuments, and translate it by eiroiei, dedit, 
aveOrj/ce, or the like. Lanzi goes so far as to suggest the 
etymology [Se-] Scopr] zee. And perhaps we might make a 
verb of it, were it not for the context. Its position, how- 
ever, between the proper name and the word clen, which 
in all other inscriptions is immediately appended to the 
name and description of a person, would induce me to seek 
the verb in ceca (probably a reduplication, like pepe on the 
Todi statue : compare chu-che in the Perugian inscription), 
and to suppose with Niebuhr (i. note 342) that Turce is 
the gentile name Tusca. I have cited the inscription prin- 
cipally on account of this word clen, which is explained 
by its contrast to eter, etera, — a word clearly expressing 
the Greek eVepo?, Latin alter (iterum), and Umbrian etre. 
Thus we have on the same monument ; 

La . Fenete La . Lethial etera 

Se . Fenete La . I^ethial clan : 

in which, if etera means, as is most probable, the second in 

the family, clan must mean the first or head of the family. 



130 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. V. 

I would not on this account infer that clan was the ordinal 
corresponding in every case to primus; but there will be 
little difficulty in shewing etymologically its appropriate- 
ness as the designation of the Jlrst of a family. The root, 
which in the Greek and Latin languages signifies head, 
summit, top, is eel-, cul-, cli-, ko\~, nop-, or icpa-. These 
are in effect the same root, — compare glisco, cresco, &c. ; 
and it is well known, that words denoting height and eleva- 
tion — or head-ship, in fact — are employed to signify rank. 
Now the transition from this to primogeniture — the being 
first in a family — is easy and natural: compare the " pa- 
trio princeps donarat nomine regem" of Lucretius (i. 88). 
Therefore, if clen or clens (in Latin clanis or clanius) is 
connected with the root of celsus, cul-men, collis, clivus, 
Ko\o(p<ov, fcopv<fir), KvpLos, Kolpavos, /covpos, Kopo<i, /cvpfias, 
Kpaviov, &c, it may well be used to signify the first in a 
family. This etymological analysis will perhaps be com- 
plete, if I add that there were two rivers in Italy which 
bore the name of Clanis or Clanius; the one running into 
the Tiber between Tuder and Volsinii, the other joining 
the sea near the Tuscan colony of Vulturnum. Now the 
names of rivers in the Pelasgian language seem to have 
some connexion with roots signifying " height," " hill," or 
" hill-tower." This has been indicated above in what has 
been said of the names of the Scythian rivers (Chap. II. 
§ 8). The Tibe-ris — the " Tuscan river," as the Latin 
poets call it — seems to have derived its name from the 
Pelasgian Teba, " a hill," and the root ri, " to flow" (see 
above, Chap. IV. § 2). And the Clan-is and Clan-ius, 
which flow down from the Apennines, may well have gained 
a name of similar import. 



§ 6. The facility with which the philologist dissects the 

rugknTnscHp- Etruscan words which have been transmitted to us, either 
tion analysed. w ith an interpretation, or in such collocation as to render 



§6.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 131 

their meaning nearly certain, might occasion some surprise 
to those who are told that there exists a large collection 
of Etruscan inscriptions which cannot be satisfactorily ex- 
plained. One cause of the unprofitableness of Tuscan in- 
scriptions is to be attributed to the fact, that these inscrip- 
tions, being mostly of a sepulchral or dedicatorial character, 
are generally made up of proper names and conventional 
expressions. Consequently they contribute nothing to our 
knowledge of the Tuscan syntax, and furnish us with very 
few forms of inflexion. So far as I have heard, we have 
no historical or legal inscriptions. Those which I have 
inspected for myself are only monumental epitaphs and the 
dedications of offerings. 

These observations might be justified by an examina- 
tion of all the inscriptions which have been hitherto pub- 
lished. It will be sufficient, however, in this place to 
verify them by an analysis of the great inscription which 
was discovered in the neighbourhood of Perugia in the 
year 1822. This inscription is engraved on two sides of a 
block of stone, and consists of forty-five lines in the whole ; 
being by far the most copious of all the extant monuments 
of the Tuscan language. The writing is singularly legible, 
and the letters were coloured with red paint. 

The following is an accurate transcript of the facsimiles 
given by Micali (Tav. cxx. no. 80) and Vermiglioli {An- 
tiche Iscrizioni Perugine, ed. 2, p. 85). 

25. Velthinas 1. Eu. lat Tanna La Rezul 

26. Atena zuk- 2. Amev.AchrLautn Velthinas E- 

27. i eneski ip- 3. -st La Afanas slel eth karu- 

28. a spelane 4. tezanfusleri tesns tei's 

29. this fulumch- 5. Raines ipa ama hen naper 

30. va spel thi- 6. xn Velthina thuras ara's pe- 

31. rene thi est 7. rah kemulmleskul zuki en- 

32. ak Velthina 8. eski eplt ulami 



132 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. V. 

33. ak ilune 9. Aule'si Velthina's Arznal Id- 

34. turunesk 10. ensi thii thil's kuna kenu e- 

35. unezea zuk- 11. plk Felik Larthals Afunes 

36. i eneski ath- 12. klen Thunchulthe 

37. umics Afu- 13. j alas chiemfusle Velthina 

38. nas penthn- 14. hintha kape muniklet masu 

39. a ama Veltli- 15. naper srankzl thii fal'sti V- 

40. ina Afun 16. elthina hut naper penezs 

41. thuruni ein- 17. masu aknina /del Afuna Vel- 

42. zeriunak ch- 18. thinam Lerzinia intemam e- 

43. athilThunch- 19. r knl Velthina zias Atene 

44. ulthl ich ka 20. tesne eka Velthina thura's th- 

45. kechazi chuch- 21. «?/r« hela tesne Rasne kei 

46. e 22. feswi £m Rasnes chimth sp- 

23. e/ thuta's kuna Afunam ena 

24. fo» naper ki knl hareutuhe 

Now, if we go through this inscription, and compare 
the words of which it is composed, we shall find that out 
of more than a hundred words there are very few which are 
not obviously proper names, and some of these occur very 
frequently ; so that this monument, comparatively copious 
as it is, furnishes, after all, only slender materials for a study 
of the Tuscan language. According to the most probable 
division of the words, the contents of the inscription may 
be considered as given in the following vocabulary : 
Afun (40); Afuna (17); Afunam (23); Afunas (3, 37); 

Afunes (11); ah (32, 33); Aklir (2); aknina (17); ama 

(5, 39); Amev (2); aras (6); Arznal (9); Atena (26); 

Atene (19); athumics (36); Aulesi (9). 
Cha (42); chiem (13); chimth (22); chuche (45). 
Einzeriunak (42) ; eka (20) ; ena (23) ; eneski (7,. 27) ; eplk 

(11); eplt(8); er (18); est (2, 31); eth (3); Eu(\). 



§ 6.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 138 

Falas,falsti (13, 15); Felik (11); fulumchva (29);fusle, 

fusleri (13, 4). 
Hareutuze (24); helu (21); hen (5, 24); /wra^a (14)-; hug. 

(16). 
TcA (44); zkrae (33); intemam (18); ipa (5, 27). 
.Za (44) ; #ope (14) ; karutezan (4) ; hechazi (45); Z^e-i (21); 

kemulmleskul (7); yfceww (10); &» (24); klel (17); Hera, 

He/m (9, 12); knl (19, 24); taa (23). 
ia (1,3); Larlhals (1 1) ; Za£ (1) ; Lautn (2) ; Lerzinia (18). 
Jfoww (14, 17); muniklet (14). 
iVoper (5, 15, 16, 24). 
Fenezs (16); penthna (38); peras (6). 
Rasne, Rasnes (5, 21, 22); Rezul (1). 
jStfeJ (3); speZ, %)e/awe (22, 28, 30); iraw/^ (15). 
Tanna (1) ; feii (4, 22) ; tesne, tesns (5, 20, 21, 22) ; thaura 

(20) ; thi, this, thii, thil, thill (29, 31, 10, 43) ; thuras, 

thirene, thuruni (6, 30, 41); Thunchulthe (12); Thun- 

chulthl (43) ; thuta's (23) ; turunesk (34). 
Velthina, Velthinas, Velthinam (6, 13, 15, 19, 20, 32, 39, 2, 

9, 25, 17). 
Ularu (8); unezea (85). 
Zias (19); zuki (7,26,35). 

The first remark to be made respecting this inscription 
is, that though we have here obviously a different language 
from that in which the Eugubine Tables are writtenj still 
there are many words which in outward form at least re- 
semble the Umbrian phrases. Thus we have Eu (v. 1), 
velthina (passim), est (2), karu- (3), tesns (4), kape (14), 
muniklet (14), turn- (24), einzeriu- (41), &c, which may 
be compared with eu, veltu, est, karu, tesenakes, kapi, 
muneklu, tures, anzeriatu, &c, in the Eugubine Tables, 
though it does not at all follow' that there is any similarity 
of meaning in addition to the mere assonance. The word 
naper (5, 15, 16, 24) seems to have the termination -per, so 



134 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. V. 

common in Umbrian : we may compare it with the Latin 
nu-per {pro novo). 

With regard to the interpretation of particular words, 
it seems idle to follow in the steps of the Italian scholars, 
Vermiglioli, Orioli, and Campanari, the last of whom has 
given us a Latin translation of the whole inscription. It 
would, indeed, be easy to found a number of conjectures 
on the assonances which may be detected in almost every 
line ; but until a complete collection of all the genuine 
Etruscan inscriptions shall have furnished us with a suf- 
ficiently wide field for our researches, — until every extant 
Tuscan word has been brought within the reach of a phi- 
lological comparison, — we must be content to say of this 
great Perugian inscription, that it appears to be a monu- 
ment in honour of some woman of the family of the Reza 
{Rcesii), who were distinguished people in the neighbour- 
hood of Perusia (see Vermiglioli, Iscriz. Perug. p. 273). 
We should probably divide eu lot. What the second syl- 
lable means can only be guessed : the former may well be 
the pronoun eu, which occurs in the second Eugubine Table 
(a, 9, b, 2). Tanna, or Thana, is a common prsenomen of 
women ; as such it forms part of the name Than-chufil 
(Lat. Tanaquil), the second part of which contains the 
element of the Cfilnian or Cilnian name. 1 Perhaps Thun- 
JcultJie (v. 12), Thunchulthl (v. 43), are forms of the same 
name. La. Rezul (for Larthia Rezul) is a feminine pa- 
tronymic — " daughter of the Lars Reesius." What amev. 
may mean is quite unknown. Achr. probably stands for 
the name Achrius, which is found in other Tuscan inscrip- 
tions (see Vermiglioli, pp. 175, 220, 233). Lautn. Vel- 

1 Niebuhr thinks (Kleine Schriften, ii. p.. 43) that Tanaquil is only a 
diminutive of Thana. With this opinion I cannot agree. There is much 
more truth in the conjecture of Passeri, which he quotes, that Thana is a 
title of honour, nearly equivalent in meaning, though of course not in origin, 
to the modern Italian Donna. 



§ 7.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 135 

thinas gives another proper name, Lautnius Velthina. The 
latter word occurs no fewer than ten times ; and we have, 
besides the simple Velthina (6, &c), the modifications, 
Velthinas (here and 9) and Velthinam (18). We have also 
Afunas (3) and Afunam (23). Now as we have here three 
cases indicating the first declension in Oscan and Latin, it is 
difficult to conceive how any one should have travelled be- 
yond the limits of the Indo-Germanic family to seek ana- 
logies for Etruscan words. The word Velthina is either 
a personal name, like Ccecina, &c, or it refers to the old 
name of Bononia, which was Felsina (Plin. iii. 20, xxxiii. 
37, xxxvii. 57; Serv. ad JEn. x. 198). La. Afunas (v. 3) 
is probably Larthia Aponiae (see Vermigl. p. 233). We 
must compare slel (v. 3)' with Mel (in v. 17). Fusleri (v. 4) 
is a form of fu'sle (v. 13). Tesns teis Rasnes (w. 4, 5, and 
22) present us with inflexions of tesne (v. 20) and tesne 
Rasne (21). Ipa may be a preposition (vv. 5, 28) ; ama is 
probably a noun (vv. 5, 39) ; the combination ipa ama (v. 5) 
may be compared with penthna ama (v. 38) . Zuki eneski 
occurs twice (7, 26). For vv. 9, 10, see Muller, Etrusker, 
i. p. 453. Falaz (v. 13) may be compared with fal'sti (v. 15). 
Eka often occurs in Tuscan inscriptions (see Muller, Etrusk. 
i. p. 452, note). With helu (v. 21) we may compare helefu 
in the Cervetri inscription quoted above, where it is proba- 
bly in the locative case. 

This survey of the Etruscan language, brief and im- § 7. 

„ •-, • in i General reflec 

perfect as it necessarily is, may lead us to some general t i ons# 

reflections on the subject. When we see so much that 
is easily explained ; when, in fact, there is no great dif- 
ficulty in dealing with any Etruscan word which has come 
down to us with an interpretation or clue to its meaning ; 
and when we are puzzled only by inscriptions which are 
in themselves mere fragments, made up in a great mea- 
sure of proper names, and mutilated by, we know not 



136 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Ch. V. 

how many, conventional abbreviations, — we are entitled to 
ask, where is the bulk of that language which was spoken 
by the ancestors of Maecenas ? We talk of dead lan- 
guages ; but this variety of human speech should seem 
to be not only dead, but buried, and not only buried, but 
sunk beneath the earth in some necropolis into which no 
Galassi or Campanari can dig his way. The standard 
Italian of the present day is the offspring of that Latinity 
which was spoken by the Etrusco-Romans ; but we find 
no trace of ancient barbarism in any Tuscan writer. Surely 
it is a fair inference, that the common Etruscan, like the 
Sabello-Oscan and other dialects, merged in the old Latin, 
not because the languages were unlike, but because they 
were sister idioms, and embraced one another as soon as 
they had discovered their relationship. 1 The only way to 
escape from the difficulties of this subject is to suppose 
that the city on the Tiber served as a centre and rallying- 
point for the languages of Italy as well as for the different 
tribes who spoke them, and that Rome admitted within 
her walls, with an inferior franchise, which in time com- 
pleted itself, both the citizens and the vocabularies of the 
conquered Italian states. 

1 Among many instances of the possibility at least of such a transition, 
not the least interesting is the derivation of Populonia from Phupluns, the 
Etruscan Bacchus ; so that this city, the Etruscan name of which was Po- 
pluna, is the Dionysopolis of Etruria (see Gerhard in the Rhein. Mus. for 
1833, p. 135). Now it is clear that as Nethuns = Nethu-nus is the god of 
nethu, so Phupluns = Poplu-nus is the god of poplu. It seems that the 
ancients planted the poplar chiefly on account of then- vines, and the poplar 
was sacred to Hercules, who has so many points of contact with Bacchus. 
Have we not, then, in the word phupluns the root of pdpulus, a word quite 
inexplicable from the Latin language alone ? A sort of young, effeminate 
Hercules, who appears on the coins of Populonia (see Midler, Etrusk. i. 
p. 331), is probably this Poplunus. The difference in the quantity of the 
first syllables of Populus and Populonia is not surprising, as the latter is an 
exotic proper name, and the former a naturalised common term. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE OLD ROMAN OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 

§ 1. Fragments of old Latin not very numerous. § 2. Arvalian Litany. 
§ 3. Chants preserved by Cato. § 4. Fragments of Salian hymns. 
§ 5. Old regal laws. § 6. Remains of the XII. Tables. § 7. Table I. 
§ 8. Table II. § 9. Table III. § 10. Table IV. § 11. Table V. 
§ 12. Table VI. § 13. Table VII. § 14. Table VIII. § 15. Table IX. 
§ 16. Table X. § 17. Table XL § 18. Table XII. § 19. The Tibur- 
tine Inscription. § 20. The epitaphs of the Scipios. § 21. The Columna 
Rostrata. § 22. The Silian and PapirianLaws. § 23. The Senatus-Con- 
sultum de Bacchanalibus. § 24. The old Roman law on the Bantine 
Table. 

Having in the preceding chapters given specimens of the § 1. 

languages spoken by those nations which contributed in o/d^thinot 
different proportions to the formation of the Roman very numerous. 
people, the next step will be to collect the most inte- 
resting remains of the old Roman language, — considered 
as the offspring of the Umbrian, Oscan, and Tuscan, — 
such as it was before the predominance of Greek cultiva- 
tion had begun to work on this rude composite structure. 
The total loss of the genuine Roman literature 1 will, of 
course, leave us but a scanty collection of such documents. 
Indeed, for the earlier centuries we have only a few brief 
fragments of religious and legal import. As we approach 
the Punic wars, the inscriptions become more numerous 
and complete ; but then we are drawing near to a period 
when the Roman language began to lose its leading cha- 
racteristics under the pressure of foreign influences, and 

1 See Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome, p. 15, sqq. 



138 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

when it differed little or nothing from that idiom which 
has become familiar to us from the so-called classical writ- 
ings of the Augustan age. 

Polybius, speaking of the ancient treaty between Rome 
and Carthage (iii. 22), remarks, that the old Latin lan- 
guage differed so much from that which was spoken in 
his own time, that the best-informed Romans could not 
make out some expressions without difficulty, even when 
they paid the greatest attention : TrfkacavrT] yap rj Sia- 
<popa yeyove t?}? SiaXe/crov, teal irapa 'Pcop,aiot,<;, t^9 vvv 
77-po? rrjv cLpyaiav, &are tov<; avveTcoraTOVs evia fxo\i<; e£ 
iiricnao-eais Sievtcpivelv. The great mass of words must, 
however, have been susceptible of interpretation ; for he 
does not shrink from translating into Greek the substance 
at least of that very ancient treaty. 

§ 2. Accordingly, we find that the most primitive specimens 

Arvahan Li- Q f L a timty may now-a-days be understood by the scholar, 
who, after all, possesses greater advantages than Polybius 
and his contemporary Romans. This will appear if we 
examine the song of the Fratres Arvales, which is one of 
the most important and ancient specimens of the genuine 
Roman language. The inscription, in which it is . pre- 
served, and which was discovered in the year 1777, is 
probably not older than a. d. 218; but there is every 
reason to believe that the cantilena itself was the same 
which was sung in the earliest ages of Rome, — for these 
litanies very often survive their own significance. The 
monks read the Latin of their missals without understand- 
ing it, and the Parsees of Grujerat cannot interpret their 
sacred Zend. It appears from the introductory remarks, 
that this song was confined to the priests, the Publici being 
excluded : " Deinde subselliis marmoreis consederunt ; et 
panes laureates per Publicos partiti sunt ; ibi omnes lume- 
mulia cum rapinis acceperunt, et Deas unguentaverunt, et 



§ 2.] OB LATIN LANGUAGE. 139 

iEdes clusa est, omnes foris exierunt : ibi Sacerdotes clusi 
succincti, libellis acceptis, carmen descindentes tripodave- 
runt in verba heec : 

1. Enos Lases juvate (ter), 

2. Neve luaerve Mar mar sins incurrere inpleoris 

(ter) 

3. Satur fur ere (vel fufere) Mars limen salista 

berber (ter) 

4. Semunis altemei (vel altemip) advocapit conc- 

tos (ter) 

5. Enos Marmor (vel Mamor) juvato (ter) 

6. Triumpe, triumpe, triumpe, triumpe, triumpe. 

Post tripodationem, deinde signo dato Publici introierunt, 
et libellos receperunt." (Orelli, Inscript. Lat. i. p. 391, 
no. 2271.) 

There can be little doubt as to the meaning of any 
single word in this old hymn, which seems to be written 
in very rude Saturnian verse, the first half of the verse 
being alone preserved in some cases ; as in Enos Lases 
juvdte — Enos Mamor juvato. The last line is a series of 
trochees cum anacrusi, or a still shorter form of the first 
half of the Saturnian verse. 

1. Enos is a form of the first person plural, analogous 
to the German uns. Lases is the old form of Lares 
(Quinctil. Institute Or at. i. 4. § 13 ; see Miiller ad Fest. 
p. 15). 

2. Lucerve for luerve-m, according to a custom of drop- 
ping the final m, which lasted till Cato's time (see next §). 
This form bears the same relation to luem that Minerva 
does to mens. Caterva from catus=acutus (above, p. 74), 
and its synonyme acervus from acus, are derivatives of the 
same kind. We may also compare bovem, suem, &c. with 
their older forms, boverem, suerem, &c. Marmar, Marmor, 



140 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

or Mamor, is the Oscan Mamers, " man-slayer," i. e. Mars. 
That Mars, or Mars pater, was addressed as the averter 
of diseases, bad weather, &c. is clear from Cato, R. R. 141. 
Sins is sinas : so Tab. Ban tin. 1. 19 : Bantins for Banti- 
nus, Sec. Pie-ores is the genuine comparative of ple-nus, 
which bears the same relation to irXelos that unus does 
to oto9. The fullest form would be ple-iores—Trkeioves: 
compare fieX-r-icov with mel-ior, &c. 

3. " O Mars, having raged to your satisfaction (comp. 
Hor. i. Carm. ii. 31 : " longo satiate ludo"), put a stop to 
the scorching heat of the sun." Limen for lumen may be 
compared with plisima for plurima (Fest. p. 205), scripu- 
lum for scrupulum, Sec. (see below, Chap. VI. § 5). Salis 
is the original form of soils : comp. creXa?, rpuo?, Au-selius, 
Sec. Whether we read sta or ta, the meaning seems to be 
" cause to cease," which may be derived from either root. 
Berber is another form oifervere. 

4. Semuneis is semones, i. e, semihemones. If alternip 
is the right reading, it is an adverb = alternis. Advocapit 
is a contraction for ad vos capite : the e is omitted, as in 
due, fac, fer, Sec. It is not improbable that ad vo' capite 
may be a tmesis for vos accipite, 

§ 3. The other extant religious compositions, though few 

serve/by Cato. an< ^ scan ty> contribute to the same conclusion — that the 
oldest Latin was not so unlike the language with which 
we are familiar as to defy interpretation. Two reliques 
of the same kind as the last have been preserved by Cato 
(R. R. 160), who writes thus : " Luxum si quod est, hac 
cantione sanum fiet. Harundinem prende tibi viridem 
p. iv. aut v. longam. Mediam diffinde, et duo homines 
teneant ad coxendices. Incipe can tare in alio: S[anum] 
F[iet]. In mota et soluta (vulg. mota vceta) : daries dar- 
daries astataries, die sempiterno (vulg. dissunapiter or die 
una pariter), usquedum coeant .... Ad luxum aut ad frac- 



§ 4.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 141 

turam alliga, sanum net, et tamen quotidie cantato in alio : 
S. F. vel luxato : vel hoc modo : havat, havat, havat : ista 
pista sista: domabo damnaustra et luxato" i. e. haveat, 
haveat, haveat : istam pestem sistam : domabo damna vestra 
et luxatum (see Grrotefend, Hud. L. Umbr. iv. 13). With 
regard to the second excantatio, which is simple enough, it 
is only necessary to observe, that the final m is omitted 
both in the accusatives luxato, pista, &c. and in the future 
sista ; and we are especially told that it was the custom 
with Cato the Censor to drop the m at the termination of 
the futures of verbs in -o and -io : thus he wrote dice, 
facie, for dicam, faciam (see Quinctil. Inst. Or. i. 7, § 23, 
and cf. ix. 4, § 39; Fest. p. 72. Mull.), recipie for reci- 
piam (Fest. p. 286), attinge for attingam (id. p. 26), os- 
tende for ostendam (id. p. 201), which are all quoted as 
common examples. He also omitted the -s of the nomi- 
native, as in prcef amino for prcefaminus (used for prafato : 
see R. R. 141 : " Janum Jovemque vino praf amino, sic 
dicito." cf. 134; and see Fest. p. 87). The words daries, 
dar-dar-ies, as-ta-tar-ies, seem to be a jingling alliteration, 
the meaning of which must not be pressed too far ; Pliny, 
at least {H. N. xvii. 28), does not think them worthy of 
serious attention ; though Grotefend would compare them 
with dertier dierir in the spurious Umbrian inscription 
(see Leps. p. 52). 

The Salian songs, if any considerable fragments of § 4. 

them had come down to our times, would have furnished th r g Saiian ° 
us with very interesting specimens of ancient Latinity. h y mns - 
Unfortunately they are all lost, with the exception of a 
few lines and detached words ; and with them we have 
been deprived of the learned commentaries of iElius Stilo, 
who was not, however, able to explain them through- 
out. Varro, vii. § 2 : " iElii, hominis in primo in litteris 
Latinis exercitati, interpretationem carminum Saliorum 



142 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

videbis et exili littera expeditam et praeterita obscura 
multa." x Of the explanations of iElius the following have 
been preserved. Festus, s. v. Manaos, p. 146: " Manuos 
in carminibus Saliaribus iElius Stilo [et Amelias, v. Paul, 
p. 147] significare ait bonos : unde Inferi Di manes pro 
boni dicantur a suppliciter eos venerantibus propter metmn 
mortis, ut immanes quoque pro valde [non bonis] dicun- 
tur." Id. s. v. Molucrum, p. 141 : " Molucrum non solum 
quo molae vertuntur dicitur, id quod Graeci fjivXrjKopov ap- 
pellant, sed etiam tumor ventris, qui etiam virginibus inci- 
dere solet .... Cloatius etiam [et sElius] in libris sacrorum 
molucrum esse aiunt lignum quoddam quadratum ubi im- 
molatur. Idem iElius in explanatione carminum Sali- 
arium eodem nomine appellari ait, quod sub mola suppo- 
natur. Aurelius Opilius appellat ubi molatur." Id. s. v. 
Pescia, p. 210: " Pescia in Saliari carmine iElius Stilo 
dici ait capitia ex pellibus agninis facta, quod Graeci pelle 
vocent TreaKT) [ireaKecov, Sep/Jbdrcov, Hesych.] neutro ge- 
nere pluraliter." Id. s. v. Salias virgines, p. 329 : " Salias 
virgines Cincius ait esse conducticias, quae ad Salios adhi- 
beantur cum apicibus paludatas, quas iElius Stilo scripsit 
sacrificium facer e in Regia cum pontifice paludatas cum 
apicibus in modum Saliorum." There are other references 
in Festus to the philological interpretations of iElius ; but 
as the Salian songs are not mentioned in them, we have 
no right to assume that this particular commentary is 
quoted : see Festus, s. v. Manias, p. 129 ; s. v. Monstrum, 
p. 138; s. v, Nebulo, p. 165; s. v. Naucum, p. 166; s. v. 
Nusciciosum, p. 173; s. v. Novalem agrum, p. 174; s. v. 
Ordinarium hominem, p. 185; s. v. Obstitum, p. 193 (cf. 
pp. 248, 249) ; s. v. Puticulos, p. 217 ; s. v. Portisculus, 
p. 234 ; s. v. Sonticum, p. 290 ; s. v. Subuculam, p. 309 ; 

1 Horace, too, alludes to the difficulty of the Salian songs (ii. Epist. i. 
"") : Jam saliare Numse carmen qui laudat, et illud, 

Quod mecum ignorat, solus vult scire videri, &c. 



§ 4.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 143 

s. v. Tongere, p. 356; s. v. Tamne (=eo usque), p. 359; 
s. v. Victimam, p. 371. 

The following are the remaining fragments of the Sa- 
lian hymns. 

Varro, L. L. vii. § 26 : " In multis verbis, in quo an- 
tiqui dicebant s, postea dictum r; ut in carmine Saliorum 
sunt haec : 

cozeulodoizeso [vel coreulodorieso] ; omina [enim] 
vero ad patula coemisse [vel oremisse~\ JAM- 
CUSIANES; DUONUSCERUSES dunzianus vevet." 

This may be written as follows, in the Saturnian metre : 
Chbroi aulbdor eso : | omina enim vero 
s Ad patula? bse misse \ Jdni curiones. 
Dubnus Cerus esit, | dunque Janus vevet. 

i, e. choroio-aulodos ero ; omina enimvero ad patulas aures 
miserunt Jani curiones. Bonus Cerus (i. e. Cerus manus = 
creator bonus, Fest. p. 122) erit donee Janus vivet (Grote- 
fend, Rud. L. Umbr. ii. p. 16). 

With regard to the apparently Greek word clioroi- 
aulodos, it may be sufficient to quote an observation of 
Varges {Rliein. Mus. for 1835, p. 69), who, speaking of his 
derivation oiampirvo (see below) from afnreipa, says: "Vix 
est quod moneam in Saliari carmine alia quoque vocabula 
inveniri, quae originem Graecam manifesto prae se ferant, 
ut pescia, de quo vocabulo vide Fest. et Gutberl. [de Sa- 
ins], p. 146, et tripudium, quod propius esse Graecorum 
iroha quam Latinorum pedem patet, et recte interpretatur 
Auson. Popma de Differ. Verbor. s. Saltare. Item cosauli 
apud Varronem de L. L. vii. c. 3. Graecorum %6pav\oi 
esse videntur, quod verbum Pollux servavit." In this 
word, as in curiones, I have ventured to insert the letter 
r, (above, p. 51). 

Varro, L. L. vii. § 27 : " Canite, pro quo in Saliari 
versu scriptum est cante, hoc versu : 



144 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

DIVUM riMPTA CANTE, D1VUM | D^O SUPPLICANTE." 

i. e. Deorum impetu canite, deorum deo supplice canite. 
Cf. Macrob. Sat. i. 9 : " Saliorum carminibus deorum deus 
canitur [Janus]." 

Festus, s. v. Mamuri Veturi, p. 131 : " Probatum opus 
est maxime Mamuri Veturi, qui praemii loco petiit, ut 
suum nomen inter carmina Salii canerent." 

Id. s. v. Negumate, p. 168 : " Negumate in carmina Cn. 
Marci vatis significat negate, cum ait: quamvis moventiiim 
[molimentum Herm. El. D. M. p. 614] du-bnum negumate." 

Id. s. v. Obstinet, p. 197 : " Obstinet dicebant antiqui, 
quod nunc est ostendit ; ut in veteribus carminibus : sed 
jam se coelo cedens [Aurora] obstinet suum pair em." Here 
it will be observed that se coelo cedens = coelo secedens, and 
that suum is a monosyllable (see Fest. p. 301). 

Id. s. v. Prceceptat, p. 205 : " Prceceptat in Saliari car- 
mine est saepe prascipit. Pa pro patre, et po pro potissi- 
mum, positum est in Saliari carmine. Promenervat item 
pro monet. Prcedopiont, praeoptant, &c. Pilumnos poploe 
in carmine Saliari, Romani, velut pilis assueti : vel quia 
praecipue pellant hostes." 

Id. s. v. Redantruare, p. 270 : " Redantruare dicitur in 
Saliorum exsultationibus, quod cum praasul amptruavit, 
quod est motus edidit, ei referuntur invicem idem motus. 
Lucilius : Praesul ut amptruat inde ; ita volgu' redamptruat 

ollim. Pacuvius : 

Promerenda gratia 
Simul cum videam Graios nihil medioeriter 
Redamptruare, opibusque summis persequi." 

According to Varges (Rhein. Mus. for 1835, p. 62, sqq.) 
the fragment of Lucilius ought to be read thus : Prasul ut 
ampirvat, sic vulgu' redantruat inde. He derives ampirvo 
from the Greek a^iTreipa, which, according to Hesychius 
(s. v. avaireipa), was pvOfjuos T£9 av\7]Ti/c6<; ; for Dionysius 
tells us (Antiq. ii. 70) that the Salii danced to the flute. 



Old regal laws. 



§ 5.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 145 

The same name was given to the second part of the Pythian 
nome (Timosthenes, ap. Strab. ix. 3) ; and Argolus (Grsev. 
Thesaur. ix. p. 342) explains the passage in Claudian (vi. 
Cons. Hon, 626-30) by a reference to the Pythian nome. 
Turnebus (Advers. xvii. 8, vol. ii. p. 145) connects am-pirvo 
with the French pirouetter ; comp. the Oscan am-pert= 
per; above, Ch. V. § 4. 

Id. p. 290 {ex Suppl. Ursin.): " Sesopia in augurali et 
Saliari carmine appellantur, quae alias esopia pro sedilibus 
dicere habemus nunc adhuc in consuetudine." 

Id. s. v. Sonivio, ibid. : " Sonivio significat in carmine 
[Saliari et a]ugurali sonanti." 

Id. p. 360 : " Tame in carmine positum est pro tarn." 
So also cume for cum, Terent. Scaur, p. 2661 p., who quotes 
from the Salian songs. 

The fragments of the oldest Roman laws, though un- § 5 

doubtedly genuine in substance, must be considered as 
having undergone considerable alteration in the ortho- 
graphy at all events. They are precious memorials of 
primeval Latinity ; but, like the Homeric poems, they not 
unfrequently exhibit the deformity of an ancient statue, 
which the false taste of a later age may have daubed over 
with a coat of coloured plaster. 

One of these fragments professes to be as old as the 
time of Romulus and Tatius. Festus, s. v. Plorare, p. 230 : 
" Plorare, flere nunc significat, et cum prsepositione implo- 
rare, i. e. invocare ; sed apud antiquos plane inclamare. In 
regis Romuli et Tatii legibus : Si nurus . . . sacra divispa- 
rentum estod. In Servi Tulli haec est : Si parent em puer 
verberit, ast olle plorasset, puer divis parentum sacer esto ; 
i. e. inclamarit, dix[erit diem]" The restoration of the 
laws quoted in this passage may be given thus: (1) Sei 
nuros [parentem verbussit, ast ole plorasit], sacra diveis pa- 
rentom estod. (2) Sei parentem puer verbesit, ast ole plo- 
rasit, puer diveis parentom sacer estod. 

L 



146 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

In these fragments two forms deserve to be noticed. 
If verberit, as it is quoted in Festus, were a syncope for 
verberarit, the old form would be verberasit. It seems, 
however, that there was an older form of verbero, inflected 
according to the third conjugation, like carint (Plautus, 
Mostell. iv. 1, 1) and temperint (Trucul. i. 1, 41). The 
three participles, verbustus, castus, tempestus (Fest. p. 362), 
are further indications of such original forms. Accord- 
ingly verberit is the modern orthography, not of verberarit, 
but of verbesit or verbussit (Midler, Suppl. Annot. in Fest. 
p. 393). We should write ole = olle with one I. That this 
was the primitive orthography is proved, not only by the 
express testimony of Festus (s. v. Solitaurilia, p. 293 ; id. 
s. v. Torum, p. 355 ; id. s. v. ab oloes, p. 19 : " ab oloes 
dicebant pro ab illis ; antiqui enim litteram non gemina- 
bant"), but still more strikingly by the locative olim, which 
retained its orthography long after its derivation had been 
forgotten. 

There are several fragments of the laws of Numa Pom- 
pilius. Festus, s. v. Occisum, p. 178: " Occisum a necato 
distingui quiclam, quod alterum a csedendo atque ictu fieri 
dicunt, alterum sine ictu. Itaque in Numaa Pompili regis 
legibus scriptum esse : Si hominem fubnen Jovis occisit, ne 
supra genua tollitor. Et alibi : Homo si fulmine occisus 
est, ei justa nulla fieri oportet." In the old orthography 
these fragments would run thus : Sei hemonem fulmin 
Jobis ocisit, nei supra cenua tolitor. Hemo sei fulmined 
ocisus escit, eiei jousta nula fieri oportet. For the form 
hemo, see Muller ad Fest. p. 100. Escit, an inchoative of 
est, has a future signification : see Muller ad Fest. p. 77 ; 
and Suppl. Annot. p. 386. 

Festus (s. v. Parrici\di\ Qucestores, p. 22\) quotes a 
short fragment from another law of Numa, which defines 
the word parricida : " Si qui hominem liberum dolo sciens 
morti duit, parricidas esto ;" i. e., in the old orthography, 
Sei qui hemonem loebesum,(Fest. p. 121) dolo sciens mortei 



§ 5.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 147 

duit, pariceidas estod. The Parricidi Qucestores seem to 
have been the same as the Perduellionis Duumviri. The 
law respecting- the punishment of the criminal and his 
right of appeal, which both Livy and Cicero call a carmen, 
has been thus preserved in Saturnian verse : 

Duumviri perduelli|6nem judicanto. 
Si a dutkaviris provocasit | provocatione certato. 
Si vincent, caput obnubito in|felici arbore reste 
Suspendito, verberato | intra vel extra pomoerum. 

I have here written judicanto for judicent, because the final 
thesis cannot be suppressed (below, § 20). The v or b is 
slurred over in pro'casit, prdcatione, and obnu'to, according 
to the common Roman pronunciation. Each trochaic tri- 
podia in 1. 2 begins with an anacrusis. According to Livy 
(i. 26), the law belongs to the time of Tullus Hostilius ; 
Cicero, on the other hand {pro Rabir. c. 4, § 13), refers it 
to the legislation of Tarquinius. 

Id. s. v. Pellices, p. 222 : " Cui generi mulierum poena 
constituta est a Numa Pompilio hac lege : Pellex aram 
Junonis ne tangito ; si tanget, Junoni crinibus demissis 
agnum fceminam ccedito" i. e. Pelecs asam Junonis nei tan- 
citud; sei tancet, Junonei crinebos demiseis acnom feminam 
ceditud. 

Id. s. v. Opima spolia, p. 189: " Esse etiam Pompili 
regis legem opimorum spoliorum talem : Cujus auspicio 
classe procincta opima spolia capiuntur, Jovi Feretrio bovem 
ccedito ; qui cepit [ei] ceris ccc darier oportet : [cujus au- 
spicio capiuntur] secunda spolia, in Martis aram in Campo 
solitaurilia utra voluerit (i. e. ' vel majora vel lactentia,' 
Scal.) ccedito; [qui cepit, ei aeris cc dato] : [cujus auspicio 
capiuntur] tertia spolia Janui Quirino agnum marem ccedito, 
c qui ceperit ex cere dato : cujus auspicio capta, dis piacu- 
lum dato." Niebuhr (H. R. ii. note 972) explains these 
gradations of reward by a reference to the scale of pay in 
the Roman army. The supplements in this passage rest 



148 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

principally on Plutarch, Fit. Marc. c. 8 : /cat Xa/ifidveiv 
76/00.9, dacrdpia rpuaKoaia rbv Trpwrov, rbv Be Bevrepov 
BiaKOcna, rbv Be rplrov e/carov. 

Plin. H. N. xxxii. 2, 10, § 20: " Pisceis quei squamosei 
nee sunt, nei polucetod ; squamosos omneis prater scarom 
polucetod." Cf. Fest. s. v. Pollucere, p. 253 : " Pollucere 
merces [quas cuivis deo liceat], sunt far, polenta, vinum, 
panis fermentalis, ficus passa, suilla, bubula, agnina, casei, 
ovilla, alica, sesama, et oleum, pisces quibus est squama, 
praeter scarum : Herculi autem omnia esculenta, pocu- 
lenta." 

Id. s. v. Termino, p. 368 : " Denique Numa Pompi- 
lius statuit, Eum qui terminum exarasset et ipsum et boves 
sacros esse." i. e. Qui terminom ecsaraset, ipsus et boveis 
sacrei sunto. (See Dirksen, Versuche, p. 334.) 

Id. s. v. Aliuta, p. 6: " Aiuta antiqui dicebant pro ali- 
ter, .... hinc est illud in legibus Numae Pompili : Siquis- 
quam aliuta facsit ipsos Jovei sacer estod." 

§ 6. But of all the legal fragments which exhibit the prisca 

XII. Tables. vetustas verborum (Cic. de Oratore, i. c. 43), the most copi- 
ous, as well as the most important, are the remains of the 
Twelve Tables, of which Cicero speaks in such enthusiastic, 
if not hyperbolical language. These fragments have been 
more than once collected and explained. In the following 
extracts I have followed the text of Dirksen ( Uebersicht der 
bisherigen Versuche zur Kritih und Herstellung des Textes 
der Zwolf-Tafel-Fragmente). The object, however, of 
Dirksen's elaborate work is juristic x rather than philologi- 
cal ; whereas I have only wished to present these fragments 
as interesting specimens of old Latinity. 

It was probably the intention of the decemvirs to com- 
prise their system in six double Tables ; for each successive 

1 The student will find a general sketch of the old Roman law in Arnold's 
Rome, i. p. 256, sqq. 



§ 7.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 149 

pair of Tables seems to refer to matters which are naturally 
classed together. Thus Tab. i. and ii. relate to the legis 
actiones ; Tab. iii. and iv. to the mancipium, potestas, and 
manus, or the rights which might be acquired over insol- 
vent debtors, the right of a father over his son, and of 
a husband over his wife ; Tab. v. and vi. to the laws of 
guardianship, inheritance, and property ; Tab. vii. and viii. 
to obligationes, delicto,, and crimina ; Tab. ix. and x. to 
the jus publicum and jus sacrum; Tab. xi. and xii. were 
supplementary to the ten former Tables, both in subject 
and in date. 

Tab. I. 

Fr. 1 (i. 1, 2, Gothofredi): si . in . jus . vocat . ni . it . § 7. 
antestator . igitur . em . capito . (Porphyrio ad Hor. a ' * 
i. Serm. 9, 65 : " Adversarius molesti illius Horatium con- 
sulit, an permittat se antestari, injecta manu extracturus 
ad Praetorem, quod vadimonio non paruerit. De hac au- 
tem Lege xii. Tabularum his verbis cautum est: si vis 
vocationi testamini, igitur en capito antestari. Est ergo 
antestari, scilicet antequam manum injiciat," Cf. Cic. Legg. 
ii. c. 4; Aul. Gell. N.A. xx. 1 ; Auctor ad Herenn. ii. c. 13; 
Non. Marcell. de Propr. Serm. c. 1, § 20, s. v. calvitur. Lu- 
cilius, Lib. xvii. : " Si non it, capito, inquit, eum et, si 
calvitur ergo, Ferto manum "). It seems probable that the 
original form of the law was, si quis in jus vocatus nee it, 
antestamino, igitur (i. e. inde, postea, turn, Fest. p. 105) em 
(== eum) capito. Cf. Gronov. Led. Plautin. p. 95. 

Fr. 2 (i. 3) : si . calvitur . pedemve . struit, . ma- 
num . endo . jacito . (Festus, p. 313). The word calvi- 
tur is explained by Gaius, L. 233, pr. D. de Verb. Sign. : 
" Si calvitur et moretur et frustretur. Inde et calumnia- 
tores appellati sunt, quia per fraudem et frustrationem alios 
vexarent litibus." Pedem struere is explained by Festus, 
1. ].: "Alii putant significare retrorsum ire: alii, in aliam 



150 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

partem : alii fug ere : alii gradum augere : alii minuere, cum 
quis vix pedem pedi praefert, otiose it, remoratur:" and 
p. 210: "pedem struit in xn. significat fugit, ut ait Ser. 
Sulpicius." This fragment seems to have followed close 
upon the previous one : see the passage of Lucilius, quoted 
above, 

Fr. 3 (i. 4): si . morbus . aevitasve . vitium . escit, . 

QUI . IN . JUS . VOCABIT . JUMENTUM . DATO; . SI . NOLET . 
ARCERAM . NE . STERNITO . (Aul. Gell. N. A. XX. 1). Vi- 

tium escit means impedimento erit. Arcera is explained 
by Nonius Marcellus, de Propr. Serm. i. § 270: " Arcera 
plaustrum est rusticum, tectum undique quasi area. Hoc 
vocabulum et apud Varronem et apud M. Tullium inve- 
nitur. Hoc autem vehiculi genere series et cegroti vectari 
solent. Varro yepovTiSihaa-KaXa) : vehebatur cum uxore 
vehiculo semel aut bis anno cum arcera : si non vellet non 
sterner et" 

Fr. 4 (i. 6): assiduo . vindex . assiduus . esto, . pro- 
letary . QUOI . QUIS . VOLET . VINDEX . ESTO . (Aul. 

Gell. N.A. xvi. c. 10; cf. Cicero, Top. c. 2, who explains 
assiduus as a synonyme of locuples, and derives it, with 
iElius, ab asse dando; Nonius, Propr. Serm. c. 1, § ante- 
pen., who explains proletaries as equivalent to plebeius — 
" qui tan turn prolem sufficiat." See Niebuhr, Hist. Rom. i. 
p. 445, note 1041). 

Fr. 5 (ix. 2). Festus, p. 348: " Sanates dicti sunt, qui 
supra infraque Romam habitaverunt. Quod nomen his 
fuit, quia cum defecissent a Romanis, brevi post redierunt 
in amicitiam, quasi sanata mente. Itaque in xn. cautum 
est, ut ' idem juris esset Sanatibus quod Forctibus,' id est 
bonis (cf. pp. 84, 102), et qui nunquam defecerant a p. r." 
Whence we may supply, p. 321 : " [Hinc] in xii. : ' NEx[i 
solutique, ac] forcti SANATi[sque idem jus estod'], id est, 
bonor[um et qui defecerant sociorum]." Where also sanas 
is explained from Cincius, ". [quod Priscus] praeter opinio- 



§ 8.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. t51 

[nem eos debellavis]set, sanavisse[tque ac cum iis pajcisci 
potuisset." Dirksen (p. 164) is wrong in referring these 
extracts to the epitome of Paulus. 

Fr. 6 (i. 17): rem . ubi . pagunt, . orato . (Auctor ad 
Herenn. ii. c. 13). 

Fr. 7 (i. 8): ni . pagunt . in . comitio . aut . in . 

FORO . ANTE . MERIDIEM . CAUSAM . CONJICITO, . QUOM . 

PERORANT . AMBO . PRAESENTES . (id. ibid, and Aul. Gell. 

xvii. 2). The word pagunt is explained by Priscian (x. 5, 

§ 32) as. a synonyme of paclscor ; the common Latin form is 
pa-n-go, but the medial and tenuis of the gutturals were 

constantly interchanged after the distinction between them 

was introduced by Sp. Carvilius (Terent. Scaur, p. 2253, 

Putsch). 

Fr. 8 (i. 9): post . meridiem . praesenti . stlitem . 

addicito . (Aul. Gell. xvii. 2). 

Fr. 9 (i. 10): sol . occasus . suprema . tempest as . 

esto . (id. ibid). The word tempestas is here used for 

tempus; the whole afternoon was called tempus occlduum, 
and the sunset was suprema tempestas (Macrob. Saturn, i. 
c. 3). Gellius, to whom we owe these fragments, considers 
the correct reading to be sol, not soils occasus. "Sole 
occaso," he says, " non insuavi venustate (vetustate ?) est, 
si quis aurem habeat non sordidam nee proculcatam." But 
Festus (p. 305), Varro (L. L. v. c. 2), and others, consider 
the phrase to have been soils occasus. There is more pro- 
bability in the reading of Gellius. 

Fr. 10 (ii. 1). Aul. Gell. N.A. xvi. c. 10: " Sed enim 
quum proletarll, et assldul, et sanates, et vades, et subvades, 
— evanuerint, omnisque ilia xn. Tabularum antiquitas — 
consopita sit," &c. 

Tab. IT. 

Fr. 1. Gaius, Inst. iv. § 14: " Poena autem sacramenti § 8. 
aut quingenaria erat, aut quinquagenaria ; nam de rebus IL 



152 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

mille asris plurisve quingentis assibus, de minoris vero 
quinquaginta assibus Sacramento contendebatur ; nam ita 
lege xii. Tabularum cautum erat. Sed si de libertate 
hominis controversia erat, etsi pretiosissimus homo esset, 
tamen ut L. assibus sacramento contenderetur eadem lege 
cautum est favoris causa ne satisdatione onerarentur adser- 
tores." 

Fr. 2 (ii. 2): (a) morbus . sonticus — (b) status . dies . 

CUM . HOSTE (c) SI . QUID . HORUM . FUAT . UNUM, . JU- 

DICI, . ARBITROVE . REOVE, . DIES . DIFFENSUS . ESTO . 

(a) Aul. Gell. xx. c. 1 : " Morbum vehementiorem, vim 
graviter nocendi habentem, Leg. istar. i.e. xn. Tab. scrip - 
tores alio in loco non per se morbum, sed morbum sonticum 
appellant." Pest. p. 290: " Sonticum morbum in xn. signi- 
ficare ait iElius Stilo certum cum justa causa, quern non 
nulli putant esse, qui noceat, quod sontes significat no- 
centes. Nsevius ait: sonticam esse oportet causam, quam 
ob rem perdas mulierem." (b) Cic. de Off. i. c. \2\ " Hostis 
enim majores nostros is dicebatur, quern nunc peregrinum 
dicimus. Indicant xn. Tabula? ut : status dies cum hoste ; 
itemque adversus hostem ceterna auctoritas." Fest. p. 314: 
" Status dies [cum hoste] vocatur qui judici causa est con- 
stitutus cum peregrino. Ejus enim generis ab antiquis 
hostes appellabantur, quod erant pari jure cum populo R., 
atque hostire ponebatur pro cequare. Plautus in Curcu- 
lione [i. 1, 5]: si status condictus cum hoste intercedit dies, 
tamen est eundum, quo imperant ingratis." This passage 
is neglected by Dirksen, but not by Gronovius, Lectiones 
Plautince, p. 81. With regard to the original signification 
of hostis, it is very worthy of remark that the Latin hostis 
and the Greek %evo<;, starting from opposite points, have 
interchanged their significations. Hos-tis originally signi- 
fied " a person entertained by another," " one who has 
food given to him" (comp. hos-pi[t-~]s, " the master of 
the feast," hostia, gasts, &c. N. Crat. p. 579) ; but at last 



§ 8.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 153 

it came to mean " a stranger," " a foreigner," and even 
"an enemy" (see Varro, L. L. p. 2, Miiller). Whereas 
£evo? originally denoting "a stranger" (extraneus), i.e. 
" one without" ([e]£evo?), came in the end to signify " an 
entertainer" and " a friend." I cannot accept Muller's 
derivation of £evo9 (ad Fest. p. 102). (c) Festus, p. 273: 
"Reus nunc dicitur, qui causam dicit; et item qui quid 
promisit spoponditve, ac debet. At Gallus iElius libro ii. 
Sign. Verb. qu. ad Jus 'pertinent, ait: Reus est, qui cum al- 
tero litem contestatam habet, sive is egit, sive cum eo actum 
est. Reus stipulando est idem qui stipulator dicitur, quive 
suo nomine ab altero quid stipulatus est, non is qui alteri 
adstipulatus est. Reus promittendo est qui suo nomine alteri 
quid promisit, non qui pro altero quid promisit. At Capito 
Ateius in eadem quidem opinione est : sed exemplo adju- 
vat interpretationem. Nam in secunda Tabula secunda 
lege in qua scriptum est : si quid Jiorum fuat unum judici 
arbitrove reove eo die diffensus esto, hie uterque, actor 
reusque, in judicio rei vocantur, itemque accusator de 
via citur more vetere et consuetudine antiqua." Ulpian. 
L. lxxiv. ad Edict.: " Si quis judicio se sisti promiserit, et 
valetudine vel tempestate vel vi fiuminis prohibitus se sis- 
tere non possit, exceptione adjuvatur; nee immerito: cum 
enim in tali permissione prassentia opus sit, quemadmodum 
potuit se sistere qui adversa valetudine impeditus est ? Et 
ideo etiam Lex xn. Tab. : si judex vel alteruter ex litiga- 
toribus morbo sontico impediatur, jubet diem judicii esse 
diffensum." I have restored difensus both in Festus and 
Ulpian on the authority of Miiller, who has shewn (Suppl. 
Annot. ad Fest. p. 401) that fendo must have been an- 
ciently a synonyme of ferio and trudo, and consequently 
that diffensus esto = differatur. 

Fr. 3 (ii. 3) : cui . testimonium . defuerit, . is . ter- 

TIIS . DIEBUS . OB . PORTUM . OBVAGULATUM . ITO . (Fest. 

p. 233: " Portum in xn. pro domo positum omnes fere 



154 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

consentiunt : si," &c. Id. p. 375 : " Vagulatio in lege xn. 
[Tab.] significat qucestionem cum convicio : si" &c). 

Fr. 4 (ii. 12). " Nam et de furto pacisci lex permittit" 
(L. 7. § 14. d. de Pactis, Ulp. iv. ad Edictum). 

Tab. III. 

§ 9. Fr. 1 (iii. 4) : aeris . confessi . rebusque . jure . 

JUDICATIS . TRIGINTA . DIES . JUSTI . SUNTO . (Aul. Gell. 

xx. c. 1 : " Eosque dies Decemviri justos appellaverunt, 
velut quoddam justitium, id est juris inter eos quasi inter- 
stitionem quandam et cessationem, quibus diebus nihil cum 
his agi jure posset." xv. c. 13 ; cf. Gaius, Institut. iii. 
§ 78, &c). 

Fr. 2 (iii. 5) : post . deinde . manus . in jectio . esto ; . 
in . jus . ducito . (Aul. Gell. xx. c. 1 ; cf. Gaius, Inst. iv. 
§21). 

Fr. 3 (iii. 6) : ni . judicatum . facit (1. faxsit), . aut . 

QUIPS . ENDO . EM . JURE . VINDICIT, . SECUM . DUCITO ; . 
VINCITO, . AUT . NERVO . AUT . COMPEDIBUS, . QUINDECIM . 
PONDO . NE . MAJORE, . AUT . SI . VOLET . MINORE . VINCITO . 

(Aul. Gell. xx. c. 1). We should perhaps read faxsit for 
facit on account of vindicit, for which see Miiller, Suppl. 
Ann. ad Fest. p. 393. For the form quips see Gronovius 
ad Gell. I.; the proper reading is ques; see below, § 23. v 
For the meaning of nervus here comp. Fest. s. v. p. 765. 
Fr. 4 (iii. 7) : si . volet, . suo . vivito ; . ni . suo . 

VIVIT, . QUI . EM . VINCTUM . HABEBIT, . LIBRAS . FARRIS . 
ENDO . DIES . DATO; . SI . VOLET . PLUS . DATO . (Aul. Gell. 

xx. c. 1 ; and for the meaning of vivere compare L. 234, 
§ 2. d. de Verb. Sign.; Gaius, L. ii. ad Leg. xn. Tab. ; 
Donat. ad Terent. PJwrm. ii. 1, 20). The student will ob- 
serve that endo dies = indies. 

Fr. 5 (iii. 8). Aul. Gell. N. A. xx. 1 : " Erat autem jus 
interea paciscendi ; ac nisi pacti forent, habebantur in vin- 
culis, dies lx. ; inter eos dies trinis nundinis continuis ad 



§ 10.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 155 

Prastorem in comitium producebantur, quantseque pecuniae 
judicati essent prasdicabatur." From which Ursinus con- 
jectures : Endoderatim [rather interatim. Festus, p. Ill] 
pacio estod. Nei cum eo pacit, xl. dies vinctom habetod. In 
ieis diebus tertieis nondineis continueis indu comitium endo 
joure im procitato, quanteique stlis cestumata siet prcedicato. 
Fr. 6 (iii. 9) . Aul. Gell. xx. 1 : " Tertiis autem nun- 
dinis capite pcenas dabant, aut trans Tiberim peregre ve- 
num ibant — si plures forent, quibus reus esset judicatus, 
secare si vellent atque partiri corpus addicti sibi hominis 
permiserunt — verba ipsa Legis dicam: — tertiis, inquit, 

NUNDINIS PARTIS SECANTO, SI PLUS MINUSVE SECUERUNT, 

se fraude esto." Cf. Quinctil. Inst. Or. iii. c. 6 ; Tertul- 
lian. Apol. c. 4. The student will remark that we have 
here se for sine, as in the compounds se-dulo (—sine dolo), 
se-paro, se-cludo, &c. 

Fr. 7 (iii. 3) : adversus . hostem . aeterna . aucto- 
ritas . (Cic. de Off. i. c. 12). 

Tab. IV. 

Fr. 1 (iv. 1). Cic. de Legg. iii. c. 8 : " Deinde quum § 10. 
[Trib. pot. ortus] esset cito legatus [leto datus, Orelli], tam- 
quam ex xn. Tabulis insignis ad deformitatem puer." From 
"whence we infer that the xn. Tables authorised the expo- 
sure of deformed children. 

Fr. 2 (iv. 2). From the statement of Dionysius (ii. 
26, 27), that the decemvirs in their fourth Table continued 
the jus vendendorum liberorum established in the time of the 
kings, Ursinus imagines some such passage as this : patrei . 

ENDO . FIDIO . VITAE . NECISQUE . POTESTAS . ESTOD, . TER- 

que . in . venom . darier . jous . estod ; to which he 
appends the next fragment. 

Fr. 3 (iv. 3) : si . pater . filium . ter . venum . duit, . 
filius . a . patre . liber . esto . (Ulpian, Fr. Tit. x. § 1 ; 
Gaius, Inst. i. § 132; iv. §79). 



Tab. IV. 



Tab. V. 



156 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

Fr. 4 (iv. 4). Aul. Gell. iii. 16 : ..." Quoniam Decem- 
viri in decern mensibus gigni hominem, non in undecimo 
scripsissent ;" whence Gothofredus would restore : si qui ei 
in x. mensibus proximis postumus natus escit, Justus esto. 

Tab. V. 

11. Fr. 1. Gaius, Inst. i. § 145: " Loquimur autem ex- 

ceptis Virginibus Vestalibus, quas etiam veteres in hono- 
rem sacerdotii liberas esse voluerunt ; itaque etiam lege xii. 
Tabularum cautum est." Cf. Plutarch, Fit. Num. c. 10. 

Fr. 2. Id. ii. § 47 : " (Item olim) mulieris quae in ag- 
natorum tutela erat, res mancipi usucapi non poterant, prae- 
terquam si ab ipso tutore (auctore) traditae essent : id ita 
lege xii. Tabularum cautum erat." 

Fr. 3 (v. 1) : [paterfamilias] . uti . legassit . 

SUPER . PECUNIA . TUTELAVE . SUAE . REI, . ITA . JUS . 

esto . (Ulpian, Fr. Tit. xi. § 14; Gaius, Inst. ii. § 224; 
Cic. de Invent. Rhet. ii. c. 50 ; Novell. Justin, xxii. c. 2, 
&c.) 

Fr. 4 (v. 2) : si . intestato . moritur . cui . suus . 

HERES . NEC . SIT, . ADGNATUS . PROXIMUS . FAMILIAM . 

habeto. (Ulpian, Fr. Tit. xxvi. § 1 ; cf. Gaius, Inst. iii. 
§ 9, &c) 

Fr. 5 (v. 3) : si . adgnatus . nec . escit, . gentilis . * 
familiam . nanxitor. (Collatio Legg. Mosaic, et Rom. 
Tit. xvi. § 4 ; cf. Gaius, Inst. iii. § 17.) I have written 
nanxitor for nancitor on the authority of Miiller, ad Fest. 
p. 166, " nanxitor in xii., nactus erit, prashenderit ;" where 
he remarks, " nancitor quomodo futurum exactum esse 
possit, non intelligo, nisi correcta una littera. Ab antiquo 
verbo nancio fut. ex. fit nanxo, sicut a capio capso ; idque 
translatum in pass. form, efficit nanxitur vel nanxitor, ut a 
turbasso fit turbassitur." 

Fr. 6 (v. 7). Gaius, Inst, i, § 155 : " Cluibus testamento 
quidem tutor datus non sit, iis ex lege xii. agnati sunt 



§ 12.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 157 

tu tores ; qui vocantur legitimi." Cf. § 157, where he says 
that this applied to women also. 

Fr.7(v.8): si . furiosus . aut . prodigus . escit, . ast . 

EI . CUSTOS . NEC . ESCIT, . ADGNATORUM . GENTIL1UMQUE . 
IN . EO . PEQVUNIAQUE . EJUS . POTESTAS . ESTO. (Cicer. 

de Invent. Rhet. ii. c. 50, gives the bulk of this passage ; 
aut prodigus is inserted on the authority of Ulpian, § 3, 
i. de Curationibus ; and ast ei custos nee escit is derived 
from Festus, p. 162 : "Nee conjunctionem grammatici fere 
dicunt esse disjunctivam, ut nee legit nee scribit, cum si 
diligentius inspiciatur, ut fecit Sinnius Capito, intelligi 
possit earn positam esse ab antiquis pro non, ut et in xn. 
est : ast ei custos nee escit") For nee see above, Ch. III. 
§ 9, and below, Ch. VII. § 5. 

Fr. 8 (v. 4). Ulpian, Frag. Tit. xxix. § 1 ; L. 195, § 1. d. 
de Verb. Sign. : " Civis Romani liberti hereditatem lex xn. 
Tab. patrono defert, si intestato sine suo herede libertus 
decesserit — Lex: ex ea familia, inquit, in eam fami- 
liam." Gothofredus proposes the following restoration of 
the law : si libertus intestato moritur cui suus heres nee 
escit, ast patronus patronive liberi escint, ex ea familia in 
eam familiam proximo pecunia adduitor. 

Fr. 9 (v. 5) and 10 (v. 6). From the numerous pas- 
sages which refer the law de ercti-ciscunda (as the word 
must have been originally written) familia to the xn. Ta- 
bles (see Hugo, Gesch. d. Horn. R. i. p. 229), we may 
perhaps suppose the law to have been : si heredes partem 
quisque suam habere malint, families ercti-ciscunda tris 
arbitros sumunto. 

Tab. VI. 

Fr. 1 (vi. 1) : cum . nexum . faciet . mancipiumque, . § 12. 

UTI . LINGUA . NUNCUPASSIT, . ITA . JUS . ESTO. (Festus, 

p. 173; Cic. de Off. iii. 16, de Orator, i. 57.) Nuncupare 
=nominare : Festus, 1. 1. ; Varro, L. L. vi„ § 60, p. 95, 
Miiiler. 



Tab. VI. 



158 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

Fr. 2 (vi. 2). Cic. de Offic. iii. 1G : " Nam cum ex xn. 
Tabulis satis esset ea prcestari qua? essent lingua nuncupate/,, 
quce qui injitiatus esset dupli pcenam subiret ; a jurecon- 
sultis etiam reticentiae poena est constituta." 

Fr. 3 (vi. 5). Cic. Topic, c. 4 : " Quod in re pari valet, 
valeat in hac, quae par est; ut: Quoniam usus auctoritas 
fundi biennium est, sit etiam cedium : at in lege aedes non 
appellantur, et sunt ceterarum rerum omnium, quarum an- 
num est usus." Cf. Cic. pro Ccecina, c. 19 ; Gaius, Instit. 
ii. § 42 ; and Boethius ad Top. 1. c. p. 509, Orelli. 

Fr. 4 (vi. 6). Gaius, Inst. i. § 1 1 1 : " Usu in manum con- 
veniebat, quae anno continuo nupta perseverabat : — itaque 
lege xn. Tab. cautum [erat], si qua nollet eo modo in manum 
mariti conve\nive, ut quo tan] wis trinoctio abesset, atque [ita 
usum] cujusque anni interrumperet." Cf. Aul. Gell. iii. 2 ; 
Macrob. Saturn, i. 3. 

Fr. 5 (vi. 7) : si . qui . in . jure . manum . conserunt. 
(Aul. Gell. xx. c. 10). 

Fr. 6 (vi. 8). From Liv. iii. 44, Dionys. Hal. xi. c. 30, 
&c, we may infer a law : pr&lor secundum libertatem vin- 
dicias dato. 

Fr. 7 (vi. 9) : tignum . junctum . aedibus . vineaeve, . 
e . concapite . ne . solvito . (Fest. p. 364). A great 
number of emendations of this passage have been proposed. 
The reading which I have adopted is the same as Miiller's, 
except that I prefer concapite to his concape : compare 
procapis =progenies, " quee ab uno capite procedit" (Fest. 
p. 225). In the same way as we have capes, capitis m.= 
miles; caput, capitis n. = vertex; so we have concapis, con- 
capitis i. = continua capitum junctura. (Comp. Madvig, 
Beilage zu seiner Latein. Sprachl. p. 33.) 

Fr. 8 (vi. 10). L. 1. pr. D. de tigno juncto, Ulpian, 
L. xxxvii. ad Edictum: " Quod providenter lex [xn. Tab.] 
effecit, ne vel aedificia sub hoc prsetextu diruantur, vel 
vinearum cultura turbetur ; sed in eum qui convictus est 



§ 13.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 159 

junxisse, in duplum dat actionem." Where tignum is de- 
fined as signifying in the xn. Tables : omnis materia ex qua 
cedijicium constet, vineceque necessaria. 

Fr. 9 (vi. 11) : quandoque . sarpta, . donec . dempta . 
erunt . (Fest. p. 384). The word sarpta (which Muller 
understands of the ipsa sarpta, i. e. sarmenta putata) is ex- 
plained by Festus, 1. 1. : " sarpiuntur vineas, i. e. putantur," 
&c. p. 322 : " [sarpta vinea putata, i.] e. pura [facta — ] 
inde etiam [sarmenta script]ores dici pu[tant ; sarpere enim 
a]ntiqui pro pur[gare dicebant]." The sentence in the 
fragment probably ended with vindicare jus esto. 

Tab. VII. 

Fr. 1 (viii. 1). Varro, L. L. v. § 22, p. 9: " Ambitus § 13. 
est quod circumeundo teritur, nam ambitus circumitus, ab ' 

eoque xu. Tabularum interpretes ambitum parietis circum- 
itum esse describunt." Volusius Maecianus, apud Gronov. 
de Sestertio, p. 398 : " Sestertius duos asses et semissem. 
Lex etiam xu. Tabularum argumento est, in qua duo 
pedes et semis sestertius pes vocatur." Festus, p. 16 (cf. 
p. 5) : " Ambitus proprie dicitur inter vicinorum aedificia 
locus duorum pedum et semipedis ad circumeundi faculta- 
tem relictus." The law itself, therefore, probably ran thus : 
inter vicinorum cedificia ambitus parietum sestertius pes esto. 

Fr. 2 (viii. 3). Gaius (lib. iv. ad Leg. xu. Tab. L.fin. 
D. finium regundorum) refers to a law of Solon, which he 
quotes in Greek, and describes as in some measure the type 
of the corresponding law of the xu. Tables, which regulates 
digging, fencing, and building near the borders of a piece 
of ground. 

Fr. 3 (viii. 6) : hortus — heredium — tugurium . 
(Plin. H. N. xix. 4, § 1 : "In xu. Tab. leg. nostrar. nus- 
quam nominatur villa ; semper in significatione ea hortus, 
in horti vero heredium." Festus, p. 355 : " \Tugu-~\ria a 
tecto appellantur [domicilia rusticorum] sordida — quo no- 



160 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

mine [Messalla in explanajtione xn. ait etiam .... signi- 
ficari.") Properly speaking, the vicus (signifying " several 
houses joined together") included the villa (=vicula, D6- 
derl. Syn. u. Et. iii. 5), which was the residence of the 
proprietor, and the adjoining tuguria, in which the coloni 
partiarii lived. All persons living in the same vicus were 
called vicini; and the first fragment in this table refers to 
the ambitus between the houses of those who lived on the 
same estate. The pasture-land left common to the vicini 
was called compascuus ager (Festus, p. 40). It is not im- 
probable that the words compescere and impescere occurred 
in the xn. Tables. See, however, Dirksen, p. 534. Ager 
is defined as " locus qui sine villa est" (Ulpian, L. 27. 
Pr. D. de V. S.). But in a remarkable passage in Festus 
(p. 371), the vicus is similarly described in its opposition 
to the villa or prcedium. The passage is as follows (see 
Miiller, Suppl. Ann. p. 413) : " Vici appellari incipiunt ab 
agris, [et sunt eorum hominum,] qui ibi villas non habent, 
ut Marsi aut Peligni, sed ex vicis partim habent rempub- 
licam, [ubi] et jus dicitur, partim nihil eorum, et tamen ibi 
nundinas aguntur negotii gerendi causa, et magistri vici, 
item magistri pagi, [in iis] quotannis fiunt. Altero, cum 
id genus officiorum [signiflcatur], quae continentia sunt in 
oppidis, quaeve itineribus regionibusve distributa inter se 
distant, nominibusque dissimilibus discriminis causa sunt 
dispartita. Tertio, cum id genus sedificiorum deflnitur, 
quae in oppido prive, id est in suo quisque loco proprio, 
ita aedificat, ut in eo aedificio pervium sit, quo itinere habi- 
tatores ad suam quisque habitationem habeat accessum : qui 
non dicuntur vicani, sicut ii, qui aut in oppidi vicis, aut ii, 
qui in agris sunt, vicani appellantur." Festus here de- 
scribes (1) the vicus rusticus, (2) a street in a town, as the 
vicus Cyprius, and (3) a particular kind of insulated house 
{insula) in the city. 

Fr. 4 and 5 (viii. 4, 5). Cicero de Legg. i. c. 2\ : 



§ 13.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 161 

" Usucapionem xn. Tabulae intra quinque pedes esse no- 
luerunt." Non. Marcell. de Propr. Serm. c. 5, § 34, quotes, 
as the words of the law : si jurgant. " Sijurgant, inquit. 
Benevolorum concertatio non lis, ut inimicorum, sed jur- 
gium dicitur." Ursinus supposes the law to have been: 
si vicini inter se jurgassint, intra v. pedes usucapio ne 
esto. 

Fr. 6 (viii. 10). L. 8. d. de Servit. Prced. Rustic. : " Vise 
latitudo ex lege xn. Tab. in porrectum octo pedes habet ; 
in anfractum, id est, ubi flexum est, sedecim." Varro, 
L.L. vii. § 15, p. 124: "Anfractum est flexum, ab origine 
duplici dictum, ab ambitu et frangendo; ab eo leges ju- 
bent, in directo pedum viii. esse, in anfracto xvi., id est in 
flexu." 

Fr. 7 (viii. 11). Cicero pro Ccecina, c. 19: " Si via sit 
immunita, jubet (lex), qua velit agere jumentum." Cf. 
Festus, p. 21, s. v. Amsegetes. Miiller and Huschke express 
their surprise that Dirksen and other learned jurists should 
have overlooked the passage in Festus, which contains the 
best materials for the restoration of this law. Festus (s. v. 
Vice, p. 371) says : " Viae sunt et publicae, per [quas ire, 
agere veher]e omnibus licet: privatae quibus [vehiculum 
immittere non licet] praeter, eorum quorum sunt privatae. 
[In xii. est: Amsegetes] vias muniunto, bonicum la- 
pides escunt: [ni munierint,] qua volet jumenta 
agito." See Miiller, Suppl. Annot. p. 414. 

Fr. 8 (viii. 9). L. 5. d. ne quid in I. publ. Paulus, Lib. 
xvi. ad Sabinum : " Si per publicum locum rivus aquaeduc- 
tus privato nocebit, erit actio private ex lege xn. Tab. ut 
noxae domino caveatur." L. 21. d. de Statuliber. Pompon. 
L. vii. ex Plautio: si . aqua . pluvia . nocet. 

Fr. 9 (viii. 7). L. 1, § 8. d. de Arboribus ccedend. Ulp. 
L. lxxi. ad Edict. : " Lex xn. Tab. efficere voluit, ut xv. 
pedes altius rami arboris circumcidantur." From which, 
and Festus, p. 348, it is proposed to restore the law: si 

M 



162 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

arbor in vicini agrum impendet, altius a terra pedes xv. 
sublucator. 

Fr. 10 (viii. 8). Plin. //. N. xvi. c. 5: " Cautum est 
praeterea lege xn. Tab., ut glandem in alienum fundum 
procidentem liceret colligere." The English law makes a 
similar provision respecting rabbit-burrows. 

Fr. 1 1 (vi. 4). § 1, 41, i. de Her. Divis. : " Venditae vero 
res et traditae non aliter emptori adquiruntur, quam si is 
venditori pretium solvent, vel alio modo satisfecerit, veluti 
expromissore, aut pignore dato. Quod cavetur quidem et 
lege xn. Tab., tamen recte dicitur et jure gentium, i. e. 
jure naturali, effici." 

Fr. 12 (vi. 3). Ulpian, Fr. tit. 2, § 4: " Sub hac con- 
ditione liber esse jussus, si decern millia heredi dederit, etsi 
ab herede abalienatus sit, emptori dando pecuniam, ad li- 
bertatem perveniet : idque lex xn. Tab. jubet." Cf. Fest. 
s. v. Statuliber. p. 314. 

Tab. VIII. 

§ 14. Fr. 1 (viii. 8). Cic. de Republ. iv. 10: " Nostras xn. 

Tab. VIII. Tabulae, quum perpaucas res capite sanxissent, in his hanc 
quoque sanciendam putaverunt : si quis occentavisset, sive 
carmen condidisset, quod infamiam faceret flagitiumve al- 
teri." Festus, p. 181 : " Occentassint antiqui dicebant quod 
nunc convitium fecerint dicimus, quod id clare, et cum 
quodam can ore fit, ut procul exaudiri possit. Quod turpe 
habetur, quia non sine causa fieri putatur. Inde cantile- 
nam dici querellam, non cantus jucunditatem puto." Plau- 
tus, Curcul. i. 2, 57; Horat. ii. Serm. 1, 80; ii. Epist. 1, 
152. Gothofredus would restore the law thus: si quis 
pipulo (=ploratu, Fest. p. 253; cf. p. 212, s. v. pipatio) 
occentassit, carmenve condidisset, Sec. fuste ferito. 

Fr. 2 (vii. 9) : si . membrum . rupit . ni . cum . eo . 
pacit, . talio . esto . (Fest. p. 36S : " Permittit lex parem 
vindictam." Aul. Gell. xx. 1; Gaius, Inst. iii. § 223). 



§ 14.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 163 

Fr. 3 (vii. 10). Gams, Inst. iii. § 223 : " Propter os 
vero fractum aut conlisum ccc. assium poena erat (ex lege 
xii. Tab.), velut si libero os fractum erat; at si servo, cl." 
Cf. Aul. Gell. xx. 1. 

Fr. 4 (vii. 7) : si . injuriam . faxit . alteri, . vigin- 

TI . QUINQUE . AERIS . POENAE . SUNTO . (Aul. Gell. XX. 1 ; 

cf. Gaius, Inst, iii, § 223). Fest. p. 371 : " Viginti quinque 
pcenas in xn. significat viginti quinque asses." Here pce- 
nas =>poinas is the old form of the genitive singular and 
nominative plural. 

Fr. 5 (vii. 2) : rupitias . [qui . faxit] . sarcito . (Fest. 
s. vv. pp. 265, 322) i. e. qui damnum dederit prcestato. 

Fr. 6 (vii. 5). L. 1, pr. d. si Quadrup. Paup. fee. die. 
Ulp. xviii. ad Edict. : " Si quadrupes pauperiem fecisse 
dicetur, actio ex lege xn. Tab. descendit ; quae lex voluit 
aut dari id quod nocuit, id est, id animal, quod noxiam 
commisit, aut aestimationem noxiae offerre." 

Fr. 7 (vii. 5). L. 14, § 3. d. de Prcescr. Verb.: " Si 
glans ex arbore tua in meum fundum cadat, eamque ego 
immisso pecore depascam, Aristo scribit non sibi occurrere 
legitimam actionem, qua experiri possim, nam neque ex 
lege xn. Tab. de pastu pecoris, quia non in tuo pascitur, 
neque de pauperie neque de damni injuriae agi posse." 

Fr. 8 (vii. 3) : qui . fruges . excantassit . (Plin. 
H.N. xxviii. c. 2). neve . alienam . segetem . pellex- 
eris . (Serv. ad Virg. Eel. viii. 99). Cf. Seneca, Nat. Quasi. 
iv. 7, &c. 

Fr. 9 (vii. 4). Plin. H.N. xviii. c. 3: " Frugem qui- 
dem aratro quaesitam furtim noctu pavisse ac secuisse, 
puberi xn. Tabulis capitale erat, suspensumque Cereri 
necari jubebant; gravius quam in homicidio convictum : 
impubem praetoris arbitratu verberari, noxiamque duplione 
decerni." 

Fr. 10 (vii. 6)* L. 9. d. de Incend. RuinaNaufr. Gaius, 
iv. ad xii. Tab. : " Qui cedes acervumve frumenti juxta 



164 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

domum positum combusserit, vinctus verberatus igni necari 
jubetur, si modo sciens prudensque id commiserit : si vero 
casu, id est, negligentia, aut noxiam sarcire jubetur, aut 
si minus idoneus sit, levius castigatur: appellatione autem 
tedium omnes species sedificii continentur." 

Fr. 1 1 (ii. 11). Plin. H. N. xvii. 1 : " Fuit et arborum 
cura legibus priscis; cautumque est xn. Tabulis, ut qui 
injuria cecidisset alienas, lueret in singulas aeris xxv." 

Fr. 12 (ii. 4) : si . nox . furtum . factum . sit, . si . 
im . occisit, . jure . caesus . esto . (Macrob. Saturn, i. 
c. 4). Here nox = noctu; Aul. Gell. viii. c. 1. 

Fr. 13 (ii. 8). L. 54, § 2. d. defurt. Gaius, Lib. xiii. 
ad Edict. Provinc. : " Furem interdiu deprehensum non 
aliter occidere lex xn. Tab. permisit, quam si telo se de- 
fendat." 

Fr. 14 (ii. 5-7). Aul. Gell. xi. c. 18: "Ex ceteris 
autem manifestis furibus liberos verberari addicique jusse- 
runt (decemviri) ei, cui factum furtum esset, si modo id 
luci fecissent, neque se telo defendissent : servos item furti 
manifesti prensos verberibus affici et e saxo praecipitari ; 
sed pueros impuberes praetoris arbitratu verberari volue- 
runt, noxamque ab his factam sarciri." Cf. Gaius, iii. 
§ 189. For the last part, cf. Fr. 9. 

Fr. 15 (ii. 9). Gaius, Inst. iii. § 191, 192: " Concepti 
et oblati (furti) poena ex lege xn. Tab. tripli est, — praeci- 
pit (lex) ut qui quaerere velit, nudus quaerat linteo cinctus, 
lancem habens ; qui si quid invenerit, jubet id lex furtum 
manifestum esse." Cf. Aul. Gell. xi. 18, xvi. 10. 

Fr. 16 (ii. 10) : si . adorat . furto . quod . nec . ma- 
nifestum . escit . (Fest. p. 162. Gaius, Inst. iii. § 190 : 
" Nec manifesti furti per leg. xn. Tab. dupli irrogatur"). 
For the use of adoro, see Fest. p. 19 : " Adorare apud an- 
tiquos significabat agere, unde et legati oratores dicuntur, 
quia mandata populi agunt .•" add, Fest. s. v. oratores, 
p. 182; Varro, L. L. vi. § 76, vii. § 41, &c. 



§ 14.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 165 

Fr. 17 (ii. 13). Gaius, Inst. ii. § 45 : " Furtivam (rem) 
lex xn. Tab. usucapi prohibet." 

Fr. 18 (iii. 2). Cato, R. R. prooem. : " Majores nostri 
sic habuerunt, itaque in legibus posuerunt, furem dupli 
damnari, fceneratorem quadrupli." Tacit. Annal. vi. 16: 
" Nam primo xn. Tabulis sanctum, ne quis unciario fcenere 
amplius exerceret." See Niebuhr, H. R. iii. 50, sqq., who 
has proved that the fcenus unciarium was — of the princi- 
pal, i. e. 8± per cent for the old year of ten months, and 
therefore 10 per cent for the civil year. 

Fr. 19 (iii. 1). Paulus, Rec. Sent. ii. tit. 12, § 11 : 
" Ex causa depositi lege xn. Tab. in duplum actio datur." 

Fr. 20 (vii. 16). L. i. § 2. d. de suspect. Tutoribus : 
" Sciendum est suspecti crimen e lege xn. Tab. descen- 
dere." L. 55, § 1. d. de Admin, et Peric. Tutor.: " Sed si 
ipsi tutores rem pupilli furati sunt, videamus, an ea actione, 
quae proponitur ex lege xn. Tab. adversus tutorem in du- 
plum, singuli in solidum teneantur." 

Fr. 2\ (vii. 17) : patronus . si . clienti . fraudem . 
fecerit . sacer . esto . (Servius, on Virgil's words, 
JEineid. vi. 609 : " pulsatusve parens, et fraus innexa cli- 
enti"). I can suppose that the original had fraudem frausus 
siet : see Festus, p. 91, and Gronov. Lect. Plant, p. 33, ad 
Asin. ii. 2, 20. 

Fr. 22 (vii. 11) : qui . se . sierit . testarier, . libri- 

PENSVE . FUERIT, . NI . TESTIMONIUM . FARIATUR(?), . IM- 
PROBUS . INTESTABILISQUE . ESTO . (Aul. Gell. XV. 13). 

Fr. 23 (vii. 12). Aul. Gell. xx. 1 : " An putas, si non 
ilia ex xn. Tab. de testimoniis falsis poena abolevisset, et 
si nunc quoque, ut antea, qui falsum testimonium dixisse 
convictus esset, e saxo Tarpeio dejiceretur, mentituros fuisse 
pro testimonio tarn multos quam videmus ?" 

Fr. 24 (vii. 13). Pliny, in the passage quoted in Fr. 9, 
implies that involuntary homicide was but slightly pun- 
ished. The fine in such a case seems to have been a ram 



166 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

(Serv. ad Virg. Eel. iv. 43) ; and the law has been restored 
thus (with the help of Cic. de Orat. iii. 39, Top. 17) : si 
quis hominem liberum dolo sciens morti dedit, parricida esto : 
at si telum manu fugit pro capite occisi et natis ejus arietem 
subjicito. 

Fr. 25 (vii. 14). From Plin. H. N. xxviii. 2, and 
L. 236, pr. d. de Verb. Sign., the following law has been re- 
stored : QUI . MALUM . CARMEN . INCANTASSIT . [CERERI . 
SACER . ESTO]. [QUl] . MALUM . VENENUM . [FAXIT . DU- 
ITVE . PARRICIDA . ESTo] . 

Fr. 26 (ix. 6). Porcius Latro, Declam. in Catilin. c. 
19 : " Primum xn. Tabulis cautum esse cognoscimus, ne 
quis in urbe coetus nocturnos agitaret." "Which Ursinus 
restores thus : qui calim endo urbe nox coit, coiverit, capital 
estod. 

Fr. 21 (viii. 2). L. 4. d. de Colleg. et Corporibus : " So- 
dales sunt, qui ejusdem collegii sunt; quam Graeci eraipiav 
vocant. His autem potestatem facit lex, pactionem quam 
velint sibi ferre, dum ne quid ex publica lege corrumpant." 

Tab. IX. 
§ 15. Fr. 1 (ix. 1). Cicero pro Bomo, c. 17: " Vetant xu. 

Tab. IX. Tabulae leges privis hominibus irrogari." 

Fr. 2 (ix. 4). Cicero de Legibus, iii. 19: " Turn leges 
praaclarissimae de xu. Tabulis translates duae : quarum . . . 
altera de capite civis rogari, nisi maximo comitatu, vetat." 
Cf. Cicero pro Sextio, c. 30. 

Fr. 3 (ix. 3). Aul. Gell. xx. 1 : " Dure autem scrip- 
turn esse in istis legibus (sc. xu. Tab.) quid existimari 
potest ? nisi duram esse legem putas, quae judicem arbi- 
trumve jure datum, qui ob rem dicendam pecuniam ac- 
cepisse convictus est, capite pcenitur." Cf. Cicero, Verr. 
Act. ii. lib. ii. c. 32. 

Fr. 4 (ix. 5). L. 2, § 23. d. de Orig. Jur. : " Quaes- 
tores constituebantur a populo, qui capitalibus rebus prases- 



§ 16.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 167 

sent: hi appellabantur Qucestores parricidii; quorum etiam 
meminit lex xn. Tabularum." Cicero de Republ. ii. 81 : 
" Provocationem autem etiam a regibus fuisse declarant 
pontificii libri, significant nostri etiam augurales ; itemque 
ab omni judicio pcenaque provocari licere, indicant xn. 
Tabulae compluribus legibus." See above, p. 147. 

Fr. 5 (ix. 7). L. 3, pr. d. ad Leg. Jul. Majestat. : " Lex 
xii. Tab. jubet eum qui hostem concitaverit, quive hosti 
civem tracliderit, capite puniri." 

Tab. X. 

Fr. 1 (x. 2) : hominem . mortuum . in . urbe . ne . § 16. 
sepelito . neve . urito . (Cicero de Legibus, ii. 23). 

Fr. 2 (x. 4, 5) : hoc . plus . ne . facito . — rogum . 
ASCI a . ne . polito . (id. ibid). 

Fr. 3 and 4 (x. 6, 7) : " Extenuato igitur sumtu, tribus 
riciniis, et vinclis purpuras, et decern tibicinibus tollit (lex 
xii. Tab.) etiam lamentationem : mulieres . genas . ne . 

RADUNTO ; . NEVE . LESSUM . FUNERIS . ERGO . HABENTO ." 

(id. ibid). For ricinium {=vestime?itum quadratum) see 
Fest. s. v. p. 274, and for radere genas (=unguibus lace- 
rare malas), id. p. 273. From Servius ad JEn. xii. 606, 
it would appear that the full fragment would be, mulieres 
genas ne radunto, faciem ne carpunto, &c. 

Fr. 5 (x. 8) : " Cetera item funebria, quibus luctus au- 
getur, xii. sustulerunt: homini, . inquit, mortuo . ne . 

OSSA . LEGITO, . QUO . POST . FUNUS . FACIAT . Excipit bel- 

licam peregrinamque mortem" (Cic. de Leg. ii. 24). 

Fr. 6 (x. 9, 10) : " Hasc prseterea sunt in legibus de 
unctura, quibus servilis . unctura . tollitur, omnisque 
circumpotatio : quae et recte tolluntur, neque tollerentur 
nisi fuissent. ne . sumtuosa . respersio ; . ne . longae . 
coronae, . nec . acerrae . praetereantur " (Cic. de Legibus, 
ii. 24). For acerra see Fest. p. 18 : " Ac err a ara quae ante 
mortuum poni solebat, in qua odores incendebant. Alii 



168 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

dicunt arculam esse thurariam, scilicet ubi thus repone- 
bant." Festus, s. v. Murrata potione (p. 158), seems also 
to refer to this law, which, according to Gothofredus, ran 
thus : Servilis unctura omnisque circumpotatio auferitor. 
Murrata potio mortuo ne inditor. Ne longce corona, neve 
acerrce prceferuntor. 

Fr. 7 (x. 11) : qui . coronam . parit . ipse, . pecu- 

NIAVE . EJUS, . VIRTUTIS . ERGO . DUITOR . EI . (PHll. H. N. 

xxi. 3 ; cf. Cic. de Leg. ii. 24). 

Fr. 8 (x. 12). Cic. de Leg. ii. 24 : " Ut uni plura (fu- 
nera) flerent, lectique plures sternerentur, id quoque ne 
fieret lege sancitum est." 

Fr. 9 (x. 13) : neve . aurum . addito . quoi . auro . 

DENTES . VINCTI . ESCUNT, . AST . IM . CUM . ILLO . SEPE- 

lire . urereve . se . fraude . esto . (Cic. de Leg. 
ii. 24). Se, it need hardly be observed, is an old particle 
equivalent in meaning to sine. They both spring from the 
same pronominal root, and are distinguished only by case- 
endings, which are often convergent in signification. Se — 
sed is an ablative form, which in later Latin appears only in 
composition {se-motus, se-gregatus, se-dulus, &c. Sine ac- 
cords in form with the Sanscrit instrumental, and was used 
as a separate preposition to the latest period of the lan- 
guage. The same is the case with the Greek k& and Kara,', 
the former being used only in composition in later Greek 
(as Kairerov, Pind. 0. viii. 38), while the latter retains to 
the end its regular prepositional functions. 

Fr. 10 (x. 14). Id. ibid. : " Rogum bustumve novum 
vetat (lex xn. Tab.) propius lx. pedes adici sedeis alienas, 
invito domino." 

Fr. 11 (x. 15). Id. ibid.: " Quod autem forum, id 
est vestibulum sepulchri, bustumve . usucapi . vetat (lex 
xn. Tab.) tuetur jus sepulchrorum." Comp. Festus, s. v. 
Forum, p. 84. 



§ 19.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 169 

Tab. XI. 
Fr. 1 (xi. 2). Liv. iv. c. 4 : " Hoc ipsum, ne connubium § 17. 
patribus cum plebe esset, non Decemviri tulerunt ? " Cf. Tab * XI " 
Dion. Hal. x. c. 60, xi. c. 28. 

Tab. XII. 

Fr. 1 (xii. 1). Gaius, Inst. iv. § 28 : " Lege autem in- § 18. 
troducta est pignoris capio, velut lege xn. Tab. adversus 
eum, qui hostiam emisset, nee pretium redderet ; item ad- 
versus eum, qui mercedem non redderet pro eo jumento, 
quod quis ideo locasset, ut inde pecuniam acceptam in da- 
pem, id est in sacrificium, inpenderet." 

Fr. 2 (xii. 4) : " In lege antiqua, si servus sciente do- 
mino furtum fecit, vel aliam noxiam commisit, servi nomine . 
actio est noxalis, nee dominus suo nomine tenetur. si . 

SERVUS . FURTUM . FAXIT, . NOXIAMVE . NOCUIT." (L. ii. 

§ 1. d. de Noxal. Actionibus). 

Fr.3 (xii. 3): si . vindiciam . falsam . tulit, . stlitis . 

[ET . VIND1CIARUM . PRAEJTOR . ARBITROS . TRES . DATO, . 
EORUM . ARBITRIO . [POSSESSOR sive REUS] . FRUCTUS . DU- 

plione . damnum . decidito . (Festus, S. v. Vindicice, 
p. 376. I have introduced the corrections and additions 
of Miiller). Cf. Theodos. Cod. iv. 18, 1. 

Fr. 4 (xii. 2). L. 3. D. de Litigios.: " Rem, de qua 
controversia est, prohibemur in sacrum dedicare ; alioquin 
dupli pcenam patimur." 

Fr. 5 (xi. 1). Liv. vii. 17 : " In xii. Tabulis legem esse, 
ut, quodcunque postremum populus jussisset, id jus ratum- 
que esset." 

These remains of the xii. Tables, though referring to § 19. 
an early period of Roman history, are merely quotations, i ns e cri p t jon] ne 
and as such less satisfactory to the philological antiquary 
than monumental relics even of a later date. The oldest, 



170 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

however, of these authentic documents is not earlier than 
the second Samnite war. It is a senatus-consultum, " which 
gives to the Tiburtines the assurance that the senate would 
receive as true and valid their justification in reply to the 
charges against their fidelity, and that it had given no credit, 
even before, to these charges" (Niebuhr, H. R . iii. p. 264, 
tr.). 1 The inscription was engraved on a bronze table, 
which was found at Tivoli in the sixteenth century, near 
the site of the Temple of Hercules. About a hundred 
years ago it was in the possession of the Barberini family, 
but is now lost ; at least, Niebuhr was unable to discover 
it, though he sought for it in all the Italian collections, into 
which the lost treasures of the house of Barberini were 
likely to have found their way. Niebuhr's transcript (from 
Grruter, p. 499), compared with Haubold's [Monumenta Le- 
galia, p. 81), is as follows. 

1. L. Cornelius Cn. F. Praetor Senatum consuluit 

a. d. iii. Nonas Maias sub aeole Kastorus : 

2. scribendo adfuerunt A. Manlius A. F. Sex. Ju- 

lius, Lucius Posiumius S. 2 F. 

3. Quod Teiburtes verba fecerunt, — quibusque de 

rebus vos purgavistis, ea Senatus 

4. animum advortit, ita utei aequom fuit : nosque 

ea ita audiveramus 

5. ut vos deixsistis vobeis nontiata esse : ea nos ani- 

mum nostrum 

6. non indoucebamus ita facta esse propter ea quod 

scibamus 

1 Visconti supposed that this inscription was not older than the Marsian 
war; but there can be little doubt that Niebuhr's view is correct: see Be- 
schreibung der Stadt Rom, iii. pp. 125, 659. 

2 Niebuhr prefers L. 



§20.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 171 

7. ea vos merito nostro facer e non potuisse : neque 

vos dignos esse, 

8. quel ea facer etis, neque id vobeis neque rei popli- 

cae vostrae 

9. oitile esse facere : et postquam vostra verba Se- 

natus audivit, 

10. tanto magis animum nostrum indoucimus, ita utei 

ante 

11. arbitrabamur de eieis rebus of vobeis peccatum 

non esse. 

12. Quonque de eieis rebus Senatnei purgatei estis, 

credimus vosque 

13. animum vostrum indoucere oportet, item vos po- 

pulo 

14. Romano purgatos fore. 

With the exception of a few peculiarities of spelling, 
as afiox ab, quonque for cumque (comp. -cunque), deixsistis 
for dixistis, &c. there is nothing in the phraseology of this 
inscription which is unclassical or obscure. The expres- 
sions animum advert ere, " to observe/' animum inducer e, 
" to think," seem to belong to the conventional termino- 
logy of those days. After fecerunt in 1. 3 we ought per- 
haps to add d. e. r. i. c. i. e. " de ea re (patres) ita censu- 
erunt" (cf. Cic. ad Fam. viii. 8). 

The L. Cornelius, the son of Cnseus, who is mentioned § 20. 
as praetor in this inscription, is the same L. Cornelius f ^e^Sdpios. 
Scipio Barbatus, whose sarcophagus is one of the most 
interesting monuments at Rome. The inscription upon 
that monument expressly states that he had been praetor. 
All the extant epitaphs of the Scipios have been given by 
Bunsen (Beschreibung der Stadt Rom, iii. p. 616, sqcj.), 



172 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

who does not, however, enter upon any criticism of the 
text. It will be as well to cite here the three oldest of 
them, which are composed in the Saturnian metre. 

(a) Epitaph on L. Cornelius Scipio, who was consul in 
a.u.c. 456. 

Cornelio' Cn. F. Scipio 
Cornelius Lucius \ Scipio Barbdtus 
Gnaivod pdtre progndtus \ fortis vir. sapiensque, 
Quoius forma virtu\tei parissumafuit. 
Consul censor Aidilis \ quifuit apiid vos, 
TaurdsicC Cisauna' \ Sdmnio' cepit, 
Subigit omne Loucana' | opsidesque abdoucit. 1 

(b) Epitaph on the son of the above, who was asdile in 
a. u. c. 466 ; consul, 494. 

L. Cornelio' L. F. Scipio 

Aidiles . Cosol . Cesor . 
Hone oino' ploirume co\sentiunt R[omani\ 
Duhnoro' optumo \ fuise viro' 
Luciom Scipionem. \ Filios Barbdti 
Cbnsol, Censor, Aidiles | hie f net [apiid vos~]. 
Hec cepit Corsica \ 'Aleriaque urbe\ 
Dedet tempestatebus \ aide' mereto. 2 

(c) Epitaph on the Flamen Dialis P. Scipio, son of the 
elder Africanus, and adoptive father of the younger. 

Quel dpice', insigne didlis \ fldminis gesistei, 
Mors pcrfecit tua ut essent \ omnia brevia, 
Honos fdma vir t usque \ gloria at que ingenium. 

1 See Arnold, History of Rome, ii. p. 326. 

2 Bunsen, 1.1. : " In return for the delivery of his fleet in a storm off 
Corsica he built the temple of which Ovid speaks {Fast. iv. 193) : 

Te quocme, Tempestas, meritam delubra fatemur, 
Quum pene est Corsis diruta classis aquis." 

The same passage is quoted by Funccius, de Origine et Pueritia L.L. p. 326. 



§20.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 173 

Quibus sei in longd licuiset \ tibe utier vita, 
Facile fact eis superdses \ glbridm majbrum. 
Qua re lubens te in gremiu, \ Scipio, recipit terra, 
Piibli, prbgndtum \ Publib, Corneli. 1 

It will be observed, that in these interesting monuments 
we have both that anusvdrah, or dropping of the final m, 
which led to ecthlipsis (e.g. duonoro' for bonorum), and also 
the visarga, or evanescence of the nominative s (as in Cor- 
nelio for Cornelius). We may remark, too, that n seems 
not to have been pronounced before s : thus we have cosol, 
cesor, for consul, censor, according to the practice of writing 
cos. for consul (Diomed. p. 428, Putsch). The phraseology, 
however, does not differ in any important particulars from 
the Latin language with which we are familiar. 

The metre in which these inscriptions are composed is 
deserving of notice. That they are written in Saturnian 
verse has long been perceived ; Niebuhr, indeed, thinks 
that they " are nothing else than either complete nenias, or 
the beginnings of them" (H.R. i. p. 253). It is not, how- 
ever, so generally agreed how we ought to read and divide 
the verses. For instance, Niebuhr maintains that patre, in 
a, 2, is " beyond doubt an interpolation ;" to me it appears 
necessary to the verse. He thinks that there is no ec- 
thlipsis in apice\ c, 1 ; I cannot scan the line without it. 
These are only samples of the many differences of opinion 
which might arise upon these short inscriptions : it will 
therefore, perhaps, be desirable that a few general remarks 
should be made on the Saturnian metre itself, and that 
these remarks should be applied to the epitaphs before 

1 Bunsen, 1. 1. : " Cicero bears testimony to the truth of these noble words 
in his Cato Maj. §11: Quam fuit imbecillus Africani filius, is qui te adop- 
tavit ? Quam tenui aut nulla potius valetudine ? Quod ni ita fuisset, altera 
ille exstitisset lumen civitatis ; ad paternam enim magnitudinem animi doc- 
trina uberior accesserat." 



174 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

us, which are the oldest Latin specimens of the Saturnian 
lay.* 

That the Saturnian metre was either a native of Italy, 
or naturalised there at a very early period, has been suffi- 
ciently shewn by Mr. Macaulay {Lays of Ancient Rome, 
p. 23). It is, perhaps, not too much to say, that this 
metre, — which may be defined in its pure form as a brace 
of trochaic tripodiae, preceded by an anacrusis, — is the 
most natural and obvious of all rhythmical intonations. 
There is no language which is altogether without it; 
though, of course, it varies in elegance and harmony with 
the particular languages in which it is found, and with the 
degree of literary advancement possessed by the poets who 
have written in it. The Umbrians had this verse as well 
as the Latins ; at least there can be no doubt that the 
beginning of the vi. Eugubine Table is pervaded by a Sa- 
turnian rhythm, though the laws of quantity which the 
Latins borrowed from the Greeks are altogether neglected 
in it. The following may serve as a sample : 

"Este persklo aveis a\seriater enetu. 
Parfa kurndse dersva \ petqu peica merstu, 
Poei dngla aseriato est \ eso tremnu serse. 

These verses are, in fact, more regular than many of the 
Latin specimens. The only rule which can be laid down 
for the genuine Latin Saturnian is, that the ictus must 
occur three times in each member of the verse, 2 and that 
any thesis, except the last, may be omitted (see Muller, 
Suppl. Annot. ad Fest. p. 396) . The anacrusis, at the be- 
ginning of the line, is often necessary in languages which, 

1 Livy's transcript of the inscription of T. Quinctius is confessedly imper- 
fect ; the historian says : " \nsferme incisa litteris fuit" (vi. 29). 

2 To this necessity for a triple recurrence of the ictus in the genuine 
Italian metre I would refer the word tripudium = triplex pulsatio. Pudio 
meant " to strike with the foot," " to spurn" (comp. re-pudio). 



§20.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 175 

like the Latin and our own, have but a few words which 
begin with an ictus. "When the Greek metres became 
established among the Romans, it would seem that the 
conventional pronunciation of many words was changed to 
suit the exigencies of the new versification, and no line 
began with an anacrusis unless it had that commencement 
in the Greek model : but this seems not to have been the 
case in the genuine Roman verses, which begin with an. 
unemphatic thesis whenever the convenience of the writer 
demands such a prefix. "We have seen above (§ 2), that 
the first trochaic tripodia of the Saturnius cum anacrusi, 
and even an amphibrachys (—trochceus cum anacrusi 1 ), 

1 In the common books on metres this would be called a single foot, 
i. e. an amphibrachys. It appears to me that many of the difficulties, which 
the student has felt in his first attempts to understand the rules of metre, 
have been occasioned by the practice of inventing names for the residuary 
forms of common rhythms. Thus, the last state of the logaoedic verse is 
called a choriambus ; and the student falls into inextricable confusion when 
he endeavours to explain to himself the concurrence of choriambi and dactyls 
in the commonest measures of Horace's odes. Some commentators would 
persuade us that we are to scan thus : Mcece\nas atavis \ edite reg\ibus ; and 
Sic te | diva potens \ Cypri. But how can we connect the rhythm of the 
choriambus with such a termination ? If we examine any of the Glyconics 
of Sophocles, who was considered a master in this species of verse, we shall 
observe that his choriambi appear in contact with dactyls and trochees, and 
not with iambi. Take, for instance, QLd. Col. 510, sqq. : 

Seipbv | [j.£V rh ira\\a.i || Keifievov | iJ\\St] Kanhv | S> \\ £e7v £ire\yelpety || 

'6\fj,oos 5' ZpoCfxcu Trv\6e<r9a.i || 

ri | tovto | ras Sei\\al\\as an6\pov cpa\ve(cras || 

aXlyriSovos | a £vv\e<rTas \\ 

fir) | Trfjbs |eyi|as av\ol£r)S || 

ras | eras, iriirov, \ epy' av\atd7J || 

t6 I toi 7ro\u ] Kal \\ /j.7]Ba/j.a \ Kr\yov \\ 

XPV\( U > £^"'> I opdbv &K\ov(r/jL aK\ov<rcu. || 

Here we see that the rhythm is dactylic or trochaic — these two being consi- 
dered identical in some metrical systems — and that the long syllable after the 
dactyl is occasionally equivalent to the ictus of the trochee. We may apply 
the same principle to the choriambic metres in Horace, which differ only in 



176 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

could form a verse. And conversely, if trie anacrusis was 
wanting, the Saturnius could extend itself to a triplet of 

the number of imperfect trochees which follow the dactyls in this logacedic 
rhythm. Thus we have nothing but dactyls in 

Sic te | diva po|tens Cypri : || 
we have one imperfect trochee or dactyl in 

Sic fra|tres Hele]nae || lucida | sidera; || 
and two imperfect feet of the same kind in 

Tu ne | quaesie|ns || scire ne|fas || quern mihi | quem tibi. || 

The cretic bears the same relation to the trochaic dipodia that the choriambus 
does to the dactylic dipodia, or logacedic verse ; and it was in consequence of 
this reduction of the trochaic dipodia to the cretic that the ancient writers on 
music were enabled to find a rhythmical identity between the dactyl and the 
trochaic dipodia (see Miiller, Liter, of Greece, i. p. 228). It appears to me 
that this view of the question is calculated to settle the dispute between those 
who reject and those who maintain the termination of a line in the middle of 
a word. If every compound foot is a sort of conclusion to the rhythm, many 
rhythms must end in the middle of a word ; and therefore such a csesura can- 
not be in itself objectionable. We can hardly take any strophe in Pindar 
without finding some illustration of this. As a specimen, I will subjoin the 
first strophe of the ix. Olympian ode, with its divisions according to the 
rhythm : 

rb fiei> | 'ApxiA(5|xou fxe\\os \\ 

<pa\vaev 'O\\vfjiirl\ov || Ka\\i\viKOS 6 | Tpnr\6\os Ke|x^«Sciy || 

&pKe\cre Kp6vi\ov wap' || ox®ov \ aye^o\vev(rai || 

KUfid\Covrt <pi\\ois "E\\<pupfJi.6ff\Tq> abv k^aipois \\ 

aXAa | vvv kKa\rafi6\\Xtiov Moi\<rav airb \ t6£ooi> \\ 

Aid Te J rpoivi\KO(rrep6\Trav cre/x\v6v t' iTrt\i>ei/.<.ai \\ 

a,Kpa}\r-fipiov \ "AXiSos || 

Toi\o?cr8e fie\\eo-ffiv || 

rb | S^ 7T0T6 | AvSbs \ y\\pas Tli\\o\p \\ 

e\^dparo \ Kd\\\KiffTou | U^vov \ 'lTnro^a\fielas. || 
In general, it seems unreasonable to call a number of syllables in which the 
ictus occurs more than once by the name of " foot" (pes) ; for the foot, so 
called, is defined by the stamp of the foot which marks the ictus, and there- 
fore, as above suggested, the half- Saturnius would be called tri-pudium, 
because it consisted of three feet. For instance, if 'Apx^x ov M 6 '^- 05 na( * n0 
ictus except on the first and fourth syllables of 'Apx^x ov we might scan it 
as two dactyls ; but if, as the analogy of - vaev 'OAu/xttiov would seem to indi- 
cate, it had an ictus on the last syllable of /j.4\os, we must scan the words as 
a dactyl + trochee + ictus. 



§20.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 177 

tripodise. We have instances of both practices in the old 
Latin translation of an epigram, which was written, pro- 
bably by Leonidas of Tarentum, at the dedication of the 
spoils taken in the battles of Heraclea and Asculum (b.c. 
280, 279), and which should be scanned as follows : 

Qui dntedhdc invicti | fuvere viri \ pater bptime Olympi |) 
Hbs ego in pugna vici \ \ 
Victusque sum ah isdem \ \ 

Niebuhr suggests (iii. note 841) that the first line is an 
attempt at an hexameter, and the last two an imitation of 
the shorter verse ; and this remark shews the discernment 
which is always so remarkable in this great scholar. The 
author of this translation, which was probably made soon af- 
ter the original, could not write in hexameter verse, but he 
represented the hexameter of the original by a lengthened 
form of the Saturnius, and indicated the two penthemimers 
of the pentameter by writing their meaning in two trun- 
cated Saturnians, taking care to indicate by the anacrusis 
that there was really a break in the rhythm of the original 
pentameter, although it might be called a single line ac- 
cording to the Greek system of metres. 

To return, however, to the epitaphs of the Scipios. 
The scansion of the lines which I have adopted is suffi- 
ciently indicated by the metrical marks placed over the 
words. It is only necessary to add a few explanatory ob- 
servations. With the exception of a. 3, b. 3, and c. 7, 
every line begins with an anacrusis, or unaccentuated thesis ; 
and it seems to be a matter of indifference whether this is 
one long or two short syllables. The vowel i is often pro- 
nounced like y before a vowel, as in Lucyus (a. 1), Lucyom 
(b. 3), dydlis (c. 1), hrevya (c. 2), inge'nyum (c. 3), utyer 
(c. 4), gremyu (c. 6), Scipyo (ibid.). And u is pronounced 
like w in c. 2. The rules of synalcepha and ecthlipsis are 
sometimes attended to (as in a. 6), and sometimes neglected 

N 



178 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

(as in b. 5, c. 4). The quantity oi fuisse and virtf in b. 2, 
may be justified on general principles ; for fuisse is properly 
fuvisse, and viro is written veiro in Umbrian. But there is 
no consistency in the syllabic measurement of the words ; 
for we have fuet in b. 4. Facile, in c. 5, makes a thesis in 
consequence of that short pronunciation which is indicated 
by the old fovmfacul (Fest. p. 87, Miiller). As all the other 
verbs in epitaph a are in the perfect tense, it seems that 
subigit and abdoucit, in the last line, must be perfect also. 
Indoucimus is perhaps a perfect in the Tiburtine inscription 
(1. 10) : " postquam senatus audivit, tanto magis — indou- 
cimus" and subigit was probably pronounced subigit. The 
beginning of b. seems to have been the conventional phrase- 
ology in these monumental nenias. The sepulchre of A. 
Attilius Calatinus, which stood near those of the Scipios 
at the Porta Capena (Cic. Tusc. Disp. i. 7, § 13), bore an 
inscription beginning in much the same way : 

Hone oino ploirume co\sentibnt gentes. 
li primariiim \ fuisse virum. 



(Comp. Cic. de Finibus, ii. 35, § 116; Cato M. 17, 61). 

The Columna Rostrata, as it is called, was found at the 
foot of the Capitol in the year 1565. Its partial destruc- 
tion by lightning is mentioned by Livy (xlii. 20) ; and it 
was still standing, probably in the existing copy, when 
Servius wrote {ad Virgil. Georg. iii. 29). It refers to the 
well-known exploits of C. Duilius, who was consul B.C. 260, 
a.u.c. 494. This inscription, with the supplements of Ciac- 
coni, and a commentary, was published by Funck, in his 
treatise de Orig. et Puer. L. L. p. 302, sqq. It is here 
given with the restorations of Grotefend (Orelli, no. 549). 

[C. Duilios, M. F. M. N. Consol advor- 
swn Poenos en Siceliad Sicest]ano\_s socios 



22.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 179 

Rom. obsidioned crave]d exemet leciones r[e- 
fecet dumque Poenei m~\aximosque macistratos 
l[ecionumque duceis ex n\ovem castreis exfo- 
ciunt Macel[am opidom opp]ucnandod cesset 
enque eodem mac[istratod bene r~\em navebos 
marid consol primos c[eset socios] clasesque na- 
vales primos ornavet pa[ravetque~\ cumque els 
navebos claseis Poenicas om\neis et ?nax~\su- 
mas copias Cartaciniensis praesente[d sumod\ 
Dictator ed ol\or\om in altod marid pucn\ad 
vicet] xxxque navi[s cepe]t cum socieis sep- 
tem[milibos quinresni\osque triresmosque na- 
veis [xiv. merset. tone aur\om captom numei 
© © © D C . . . \jpondod arceii\tom captom 
praeda numei cccIood \jpondod crave'] captom 
aes ccclooo ccclooo cccIdod ccclooo cccIddd 
cccIddd ccclooo ccclooo ccclooo ccclooo 
ccclooo ccclooo ccclooo ccclooo ccclooo 

ccclooo ccclooo ccclooo ccclooo 

[is qu~\oque navaled praedad poplom [Rom. 
deitavet atque~\ Cartacini[ens~]is [ince~\iwos 
d[uxet triumpod cum xxx rostr\eis [clasis] 
Carta\ciniensis captai quorum erco S.P. Q.R. 
hanc colomnam eei P.]. 

Festus has preserved two interesting fragments of laws § 22. 
which are nearly contemporary with the Columna Rostrata. Papu-i^Laws 
The first of these is the Lex Silia de publicis ponderibus, 
which was passed in the year B.C. 244, a.u.c. 510. Festus 
s. v. Publica ponder a, p. 246 : " Publica pondera [ad legi- 
timam normam exacta fuisse] ex ea causa Junius 



180 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

[collegi]t quod duo Silii P. et M. Trib. pleb. rogarint his 

verbis : 

Ex ponderibus publicis, quibus hac tern- 
pestate populus oetier solet, uti coaequetur (l) 
sedulum, {2) uti quadrantal vini octoginta pondo 
siet ; congius vini decern p. siet ; sex sextari 
congius siet vini ; duo de quinquaginta sextari 
quadrantal siet vini ; sextarius aequus aequo 
cum librario siet; {Z) sex dequimque {i) librari in 
modio sient. 

Si quis rnagistratus adversus hac d. m. 
pondera modiosque vasaque pablica modica, 
major a, minor ave faxit, jusseritve^ ] fieri, do- 
lumve adduit quo ea fiant, eum quis volet 
rnagistratus^ multare, dum minor e parti fa- 
milias taxat, (1) liceto ; sive quis im (8) sacrum 
judicare voluerit, liceto" 

The Latinity of this fragment requires a few remarks, 
(1) coaequetur. In the Pompeian Inscription (Orelli, no. 
4348) we have : mensuras excequandas. (2) Sedulum. Sca- 
liger suggests se dolo m. i. e. sine dolo nialo. But sedulo or 
sedulum itself signifies " sine fraude indiligentiseve culpa" 
(Miiller ad I.), and the law refers to the care and honesty 
of those who were to test the weights and measures. For 
sedulus, see Doderl. Syn. u. Et. i. p. 118. (3) " Nihil in- 
telligo nisi librarius qui hie significatur sextarius frumenti 
erat." Miiller. (4) Sex dequimque = sex decimque, the qu 
being written instead of c. (5) The editions have jussit 
ve re, for which Miiller writes jussitve; Haubold {Monu- 
menta Legalia) proposes jusseritve, "propter sequens re," 
and I have adopted this reading on account of the word 



§22.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 181 

faxit, which precedes. (6) Quis volet magistrates. Cf. Tab. 
Bantin. Osc. 12. Lat. 7. (7) Dum minor e parti familias 
taxat. Compare the Latin Bantine Inscription, 1. 10: 
[dum minoris] partus familias taxsat. Cato, apud Aul. 
Gell. vii. 3 : " Quae lex est tarn acerba quae dicat, si quis 
illud facere voluerit, mille nummi dimidium families multa 
esto ?" The abl. parti (which occurs in Lucretius) and the 
genitive partus (comp. Castorus in the Bantine Inscription, 
ejus, cujus, &c.) depend on multare and multam, which are 
implied in the sentence. For taxat, see Fest. p. 356. These 
passages shew the origin of the particle dumtaxat, which is 
used by the classical writers to signify " provided one esti- 
mates it," " estimating it accurately," " only," " at least," 
" so far as that goes," &C. 1 (8) Im=eum. Fest. p. 103. 
The Lex Papiria de Sacramento, which is to be re- 
ferred to the year b.c. 243, a.u.c. 511, is thus cited by 
Festus s. v. Sacramentum, p. 344 : " Sacramentum aes sig- 
nificat, quod pcenae nomine penditur, sive eo quis interro- 
gatur, sive contenditur. Id in aliis rebus quinquaginta 
assium est, in aliis rebus quingentorum inter eos, qui 
judicio inter se contenderent. Qua de re lege L. Papiri 
Tr. pi. sanctum est his verbis : 

Quicunque Praetor post hac f actus erit 
qui inter cives jus dicet, tres viros Capitales 
populum rogato, liique tres viri \capitales~\, 
quicunque [posthac fa~\cti erunt, sacramenta 
ex\igunto\ judicantoque, eodemquejure sunto, 
uti ex legibus plebeique scitis exigere, judi- 
careque, esseque oportet." 

1 It is scarcely necessary to point out the absurdity of the derivation pro- 
posed by A. Grotefend (Ausf. Gramm. d. Lat. Spr. § 124) : " duntaxat aus 
dum taceo (cetera) sat (est hoc) !" 



182 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

The Senatus Consultum de Bacchanalibus, which is re- 
ferred to by Livy (xxxix. 14), and which belongs to the 
year b.c. 186, a.u.c. 568, was found at Terra de Teriolo in 
Calabria, in 1640, and is now at Vienna, where I have 
carefully examined it. A facsimile of the inscription, with 
the commentary of Matthaeus iEgyptius, will be found in 
Drakenborch's Livy, vol. vii. p. 197, sqq. 

1. [Q.~\ Marches L. F. S. Postumius L. F. Cos. Se- 

natum comoluerunt N. 1 Octob. apud aedem 

2. Duelonai sc. 2 arf. s M. Claudi M. F. L. Valeri 

P. F. Q. Minim C. F. de Bacanalibus 



3. Esent ita exdeicendnm censuere neiquis eorum 

Sacanal 4 habuise velet set ques 5 

4. esent quei sibei deicerent necesus 6 ese Bacanal 

habere eeis utei ad pr. urbanum 

5. Romam venirent deque eeis rebus ubei eorum v 

tr a? audita esent utei senatus 

6. noster decerneret dum ne minus senatoribus c. 

adesent \_quom e\a res cosoleretur 

7. Bacas 8 vir ne quis adiese 9 velet ceivis Romanus 

neve nominus Latm[i] neve socium 

8. quisquam nisei pr. urbanum adiesent isque de 

senatuos sententiad dum ne 

9. minus senatoribus c. adesent quom ea res coso- 

leretur iousisent censuere 
10. sacerdos ne quis vir eset magister neque vir neque 
mulier quisquam eset 

1 Nonis. 2 scribendo. 3 adfuerunt. 4 Bacchanal. 

5 ques— quel See Klenze, Legis Servilice Fr. p. 12, not. 2; Fest p. 261. 

6 necessum. " 1. verba. 8 i.e. Bacchas. 9 adiisse. 



§23.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 183 

1 1 . neve pecuniam quisquam eorum comoinem habuise 

velet neve magistratum 

12. neve pro magistratuo neque v'irum neque mulie- 

rem quiquam 1 fecise velet 

13. neve post liac inter sed 2 conjourase neve comvo- 

vise neve conspondise 

1 4. neve conpromesise velet neve quisquam fidem inter 

sed dedise velet 

15. sacra in oquoltod 3 ne quisquam fecise velet neve 

in poplicod neve in 

16. preivatod neve exstrad urbem sacra quisquam 

fecise velet nisei 

17. pr. urbanum adieset isque de senatuos sententiad 

dum ne minus 

18. senatoribus c. adesent quom ea res cosoleretur 

iousisent censuere 

19. homines pious v. oinversei^ virei atque mulieres 

sacra ne quisquam 

20. fecise velet neve interibei 5 virei pious cluobus mu- 

lieribus pious tribus 

21. arfuise velent nisei de pr. urbani senatuosque 

sententiad utei suprad 

22. scriptum est haice utei in coventionid 6 exdeicatis 

ne minus trinum 

23. noundinum senatuosque sententiam utei scientes 



24. sententia ita fuit sei ones' 1 esent quei arvorsum 
eadfuisent quam suprad 

1 quisquam. * i.e. se, as in 1. 11. 3 occulto. 4 universi. 

5 —interea. 6 contione. "' ques = quei. 



184 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

25. scriptum est eeis rem caputalem faciendum cen- 

suere atque utei 

26. hoce in tabolam ahenam inceideretis ita senatus 

aiquom censuit 

27. uteique earn figier joubeatis ubeifacilumed 1 gnos- 

cier potisit 2 atque 

28. utei ea Bacanalia sei qua sunt exstrad quam sei 

quid ibei sacri est 

29. ita utei suprad scriptum est in diebus x quibus 

vobeis tabelai 3 datai 

30. erunt facialis utei dismota sient in agro Teic- 



§ 24. The Roman law on the Bantine Table is probably not 

KK okler tnan the middle of the seventh century. The chief 
tine Table. reason for introducing it here, is its connexion in loca- 
lity, if not in import, with the most important fragment 
of the Oscan language (above, p. 86). Klenze divides it 
into four sections. His transcription and supplements are 
as follows (Rkein. Mm. for 1828, p. 28, sqq. ; Phil. Abhandl. 
p. 7, sqq.). 

Cap. 1 . On the degradation of offenders. 

1 e . in popVico joudicio nesep 

2 o . neive quis mag. testimonium 

poplice eid[em sinito den~]ontiari 
3 dato neive is in poplico luuci prae- 

textam neive soleas habeto neive quis 

1 facillime. 2 —potis-sit=possit. 3 —tabella. 

4 in agro Teurano. Strabo, p. 254 c : virep Se twv Qovpiuv kcu y Tavpidvi) 
X&P& \tyofiiv7) 'ISpVTCU. 



§ 24.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 185 

4. [mag. prove, mag. prove quo imperio potestateve 
erit qu~\eiquomque comitia conciliumve liabebit 
eum sufragium ferre nei sinito. 

L. 2. See Q-uiuctil. v. 7, § 9 : " Duo sunt genera tes- 
tium, aut voluntariorum aut quibus in judiciis publicis lege 



L. 3. luuci, " by day." Plaut. Cas. iv. 2, 7: " Tandem 
ut veniamus luci." Cic. Phil. xii. 10, § 25 : " Quis audeat 
feci — illustrem aggredi?" 

Cap. 2. On the punishment of judges and senators who 
violate the law. 

5. [seiquis joudex queiquomque ex hace lege'\ ple- 

beive scito f actus erit senatorve fecerit gesse- 
ritve quo ex hace lege 

6. [minus Jiant quae fieri oportet quaeve fieri opor- 

tujerit oportebitve ?ion fecerit sciens d. m., 
seive advorsus liance legem fecerit. 

7. [gesseritve sciens d. m. ei multa esto . . . 

eamque pequniani] quel volet magistratus ex- 
sigito sei postulabit quel petet pr. recupera- 
tores 

8. [dato facit\oque eum sei 

ita pareat condumnari popul. facitoque joudi- 
cetur sei condemnatus 

9. [fuerit tit pequnia redigatur] ad Q. urb[an.~] aut 

bona ejus poplice possideantur facito . seiquis 
mag. multam inrogare volet 
10. \_apud populum clum minoris] partus familias 
taxsat liceto eiq. omnium rerum siremps lexs 
esto quasei sei is haace lege 



186 THE OLD ROMAN [Ch. VI. 

1 1 . [condemnatus fuerit] 

L. 10. dum minoris partus familias taxsat. See above, 
§ 22, on the Lex Silia. Partus is the genitive case, like 
Castorus, cap. 3, 1. 15. Siremps is explained by Festus, 
p. 344: "Siremps ponitur pro eadem, vel, proinde ac ea, 
quasi similis res ipsa. Cato in dissuadendo legem . . . , 
relicta est : Et praeterea rogas, quemquam adversus ea si 
populus condempnaverit, uti siremps lex siet, quasi adver- 
sus leges fecisset." 

Cap. 3. On binding the judges and magistrates by an oath 
to observe the law. 

12. [Cos. Pr. . . . qii]ei ?iunc est is in diebus 

v proxsumeis quibus queique eorum sciet h. I. 
popolum plebemve 

13. [joussisse jouranto ] Die. cos. pr. mag. eq. 

cens. aid. tr. pi. q. uwir cap. mvir a. d. a.jou- 
dex ex h. I. plebive scito 

14. [/actus queiquomque eorum p\ostliac f actus erit 

eis in diebus v proxsumeis quibus quisque 
eorum mag. inperiumve inierit, jouranto 

15. [ in ae~\de Castorus palam luci in forum 

vorsus et eidem in diebus v apud Q. jouranto 
per Jovem deosque 

16. [penateis sese quae ex h. I. oport]ebit facturum 

neque sese advorsum h. I. facturum scientem 
d. m. neque seese facturum neque inter cesurum 

17. [ne ex h. I. Jiant quae oportet. Qu~\ei ex h. I. 

non jouraverit is magistratum inperiumve nei 
petito neive gerito neive habeto neive in senatu 

18. [si adfuerit sentetitiam dicer e e\um quis sinito 



§ 24.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 187 

neive eum censor in senatum legito. Quel ex 
h. I. joudicaverit is f actio apud Q. urb. 

19. \nomen ejus quei jouraverit sc]riptum siet. 

Quaestorque ea nomina accipito et eos quei 
ex h. I. apud sed jourarint f actio in taboleis 

20. [popliceis scriptos habeat]. 

L. 13. i. e. Dictator, consul, praetor, magister equitum, 
censor, cedilis, tribunus plebei, qucestor, triumvir capitalis, 
triumvir agris dandis adsignandis. 

L. 15. palam luci in forum versus. See Cic. de Offic. 
iii. 24. 

Cap. 4. On the oath of the senators. 

2 1 . {Senator es quei sententijam deixer\in\ t post hance 

legem rogatam eis in diebus x proxsumeis qui- 
bus quisque [eorum sciet h. l.~\ 

22. \_populum plebemve joussisse j\ouranto apud 

quaestorem ad aerarium palam luci per Jovem 
de[osqii\e penate\is sese quae oportebit] 

23. [facturum — — neque se'jse advorsum hance 

legem facturum esse neque seese ^facturum] 
24. se hoice leegeiji 

L. 21. eis = ii. See above, p. 182. 
L. 22. ad cerarium. See Liv. xxix. 37. Per Jovem 
deosque penateis. Comp. Cic. Acad. iv. 20. 



CHAPTER VII. 



ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 



§ 1. Organic classification of the original Latin alphabet. § 2. The labials. 
§ 3. The gutturals. § 4. The dentals. § 5. The vowels. § 6. The Greek 
letters used by the Romans. § 7. The numeral signs. 

The genuine Latin alphabet, — or that set of characters 
which expressed in writing the sounds of the Roman lan- 
guage before it had borrowed from the Greek a number 
of words, and the means of exhibiting them to the eye, — 
may be considered as consisting of nineteen letters ; that 
is, of the representatives of the original Cadmean syllaba- 
rium (which consisted of sixteen letters) ; — the secondary 
vowels, or vocalised consonants, I and u, and the secondary 
sibilant x=sh, being added as a necessary appendix. 

If we distribute these nineteen letters according to 
their natural or organic classification, we shall have the 
following arrangement : — 

CONSONANTS. 





Labials. 


Gutturals. 


Dentals. 


Medials . . . 


B 


G 


D 


Aspirates . . 


F 


H 


R 


Tenues . . . 


P 


Qv 


T 


Liquids . . . 


M 




L, N 


Sibilants. . . 




X, S 





2.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 189 

VOWELS. 



Vowels of Ar-^l 
ticulations .j 


Heaviest. 

A 


Lightest. 

E 


Medium. 




Vocalised ^j 
Consonants J 


Vocalised Labial. 

u 


Vocalised Guttural, or 
Dental. 

I 



It will be most convenient, as well as most methodical, 
to consider these letters according to this classification, 
which will be justified by the investigation itself. 

LABIALS. 

The labials consist of three mutes and the liquid m. 
The regular changes of the labial mutes, in the principal 
languages of the Indo-Germanic family, have been thus 
indicated by James Grimm, to whom we owe the disco- 
very of a most important law {Deutsche Gramm. i. p. 584), 
which may be stated thus in its application to all three 
orders of mutes : 



In Greek, 






In Gothic. 




In Old High 


Latin, Sanscrit. 








German. 


Medial 


corresponds to 


Tenuis 


and to 


Aspirate. 


Aspirate 


)> 


33 


Medial 


33 


Tenuis. 


Tenuis 


33 


„ 


Aspirate 


„ 


Medial. 



§2. 

The labials. 



This law, applied to the labials only, may be expressed in 
the following table : 

Latin, (Greek, Sanscrit) . B F P 

Gothic P B F 

Old High German . . . F P B (V) 

To take the instances given by Grimm himself, — the 
first column is confirmed, as far as the Latin language is 
concerned, by the following examples : cannabis {icavva- 



190 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Ch. VII. 

/3t?), Old Norse hanpr, Old High German hanaf ; turba 
{6opvj3if), Goth, thaurp, O. H. G. dor of ; stabulum, O. N. 
stbpull, O. H. G. staphol. To which may be added, labi, 
Anglo-Saxon slipan, O. H. G. sliuffan. These instances 
are confined to the occurrence of the labials in the middle 
of words ; for there are no German words beginning with 
p, and no H. G. words beginning with f. 

The second column is supported as follows: Initials — 
fagus (^765), O. N. beyki, O. H. D. puoclia; fero ((pipco), 
Goth, baira, O. H. G. piru ; fui {$v<o), Ang.-Sax. beon, 
O. H. G. pirn ; flare, Goth, blasan, O. H. G. plasan ; fra-n- 
gere (prjyvv/M), Goth, brikan, O. H. G. prechan ; folium 
(<pv\\ov), O. N. blad, O. H. G. plat; f rater ((ppTjrrjp), 
Goth, brothar, O. H. G. pruoder. The Latin language 
furnishes no instances of this rule in its application to the 
middle sounds. In vecpiXr], Ke<pa\r], ypdcpeiv, and such 
like, the Latin equivalents present b or p ; compare nebula, 
caput, s-cribere. The reason for this is to be sought in the 
aversion of the Roman ear from f as a middle sound. 

The third column rests on the following induction : 
Initials — pes [pedis), Goth, fotus, O. H. G. vuoz ; piscis, 
Goth, flsks, O. H. G. vise ; pater, Goth, fadrs, O. H. G. 
vatar ; plenus, Goth, fulls, O. H. G. vol; pecus, Goth. 
faihu, O. H. G. vihu ; palma, Angl.-Sax. folma, O. H. G. 
volma; pellis, Goth, fill, O. H. G. vel; pullus, Goth, fula, 
O. H. G. volo ; primus, Goth, frumists, O. H. G. vromist. 
Middle sounds — sopor, O. N. svefn, O. Sax. suelhan; sep- 
tem, Angl.-Sax. s'efon, Goth, sibun ; afer, Angl.-Sax. eofor, 
O. H. G. ebar; super, Goth, ufar, O. N. yfir, O. H. G. 
ubar ; rapina, Angl.-Sax. reaf, O. H. G. roub. 

These may be taken as proofs of the general applica- 
tion of Grimm's rule to the Latin labials. If, however, we 
examine the use of the separate letters more minutely, we 
shall find great vacillation even within the limits of the 
Latin language itself. 



§2.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 191 

The medial b seems to have approximated in many 
cases to the sound of v ; at other times it came more 
nearly to p. We find in old Latin the forms Duillius, 
duonus, duellum, &c. by the side of Bittius, bonus, helium, 
&c. Now, there is no doubt that the proper abbreviation 
of these forms would be e. g. donus or vonus, and so on. 
The labial representative bonus, therefore, shews a sort of 
indifference between the occasional pronunciation of b and 
v. This view is confirmed by a comparison of duis, which 
must have been the original form, with Si? on the one 
hand, and bis, bes, vi-yinti on the other. This appears 
particularly in the change from Latin to Italian, as in 
habere = avere, habebam = aveva, &c. The commutation 
of b and v in the Spanish language gave occasion to Scali- 
ger's epigram : 

Haud temere antiquas mutat Vasconia voces 
Cut nihil est aliud vivere quam bibere. 

The interchange of b and p may be remarked in burrus, 
7TU/3/309; Balantium, Palatium; bitumen, pitumen (cowvp.pi- 
tuita) ; &c. In many Latin words the b stands for a <j> 
(=p'h) in the Greek synonyme : compare balcena, albus, 
ambo, nebula, tenebrce, umbilicus, &c, with (pd\atva, a\<f)6<;, 
apcpco, V6(f>e\7], Svocpepal, dficfraXos, &c. 

The ancient Romans did not use b, as the Greeks did, 
to form a fulcrum between two liquids (comp. /jueaijaepla, 
fjLeo-rjfiftpla', fjbeki, [/a]/3a./tt<w ; e-/jbo\ov, iiepbfiXcoica; yitopo?, 
afifipoTos', &c.) : but in the derivative idioms there are 
many instances of this insertion; compare numerus, nom- 
bre; camera, chambre, &c. ; and even when r is substituted 
for some other liquid, as in hominem, Sp. liombre ; or when 
a third liquid is retained, as in cumulare, Fr. combler. 

It is hardly necessary to remark, that the genuine Etrus- 
can element in the Latin language must have been altoge- 
ther without the medial b. 

When b or v is followed by the vocalised guttural J, we 



102 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Cu. VII. 

sometimes remark that, in the derived languages, this gut- 
tural supersedes the labial, and is pronounced alone : so 
we have ccwea (=cavja), cage; cambiare, changer; Dibio, 
Dijon; rabies, rage; ruber e (=rubjere), rougir ; &c. 

The labial f and the guttural q v are the most charac- 
teristic letters in the Latin alphabet. Of the latter I will 
speak in its place, merely remarking here that its resem- 
blance to f consists in the fact that they are both com- 
pound letters, although used from the earliest period as 
exponents of simple sounds. 

In considering the Latin f, we must be careful not to 
confuse it with the Greek <j) on the one hand, or with the 
modern v on the other. It is true that f corresponds to cj> 
in a number of words, such as fagus, fama, fero, fallo, fari, 
fascis, f rater, frigus, fucus, fugio, fui, fulgeo, fur (Muller, 
Etrusk. i. p. 20) ; but we must consider these words as an 
approach to a foreign articulation ; for in a great number of 
words, in which the f has subsequently been commuted for 
h, we can find no trace of connexion with the Greek (f> : 
such are fariolus, fasena, fedus,fircus, folus,fordeum, fostis, 
fostia,forctis, vefo, trafo (Muller, Etrusk. i. p. 44). 

It is generally laid down that f and v are both labio- 
dental aspirates, and that they differ only as the tenuis dif- 
fers from the medial ; and one philologer has distinctly 
asserted their identity, meaning perhaps that in Latin f = 
the- English v, and v = the English w. If, however, we 
analyse some of the phenomena of comparative philology 
in which the Latin f appears, and then refer to Quinc- 
tilian's description of the sound of this letter, we may be 
disposed to believe that in many cases the English v formed 
only a part of the sound. Quinctilian says (xii. 10, § 27, 
29) that the Roman language suffered in comparison with 
the Greek from having only v and f, instead of the Greek 
v and <£, " quibus nullce apud eos (Grcecos) dulcius spirant. 
Nam et ilia, quce est sexta nostrarum, pcene non hum ana 



§ 2.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 193 

voce, vel omnino non voce potius inter discrimina dentium 
efflanda- est: quce etiam, cum vocalem proximo, accipit, 
quassa quodammodo : utique, quoties aliquant consonantem 
frangit, ut in hoc ipso frangit, multo fit horridior." Not 
to repeat here what has been stated at length elsewhere 
(N. Crat. p. 124), it will be sufficient to make the follow- 
ing observations : (a) the Latin f, though not = v, con- 
tained that letter, and was a cognate sound with it : x this 
is proved by a comparison of con-ferre, con-viva, &c. with 
com-bibere, im-primis, &c. (b) It appears from Quinctilian 
that in his time the Latin f contained, in addition to the 
labial v, some dental sibilant ; and the sibilant is known to 
have been the condition in which the guttural passed into 
the mere aspirate, (c) A comparison of the Greek Orjp 
with its Latin synonyme fera would produce great diffi- 
culty, if we could not suppose a coexistence of the sibilant 
with the labial in the latter ; such a concurrence we have 
in the Russian synonyme svera, Lettish svehrs, Old Prus- 
sian svirs. (d) The Sabine words mentioned above (such 
a,sfircus), the more modern representatives of which sub- 
stitute an aspirate for the f, prove that the f must have 
contained a guttural aspirate ; for no labial can pass into a 
guttural, though a compound of labial and guttural may be 
represented by the guttural only, (e) Those words in the 
Romance languages which present an aspirate for the f 
which their Latin synonymes retained to the last, — such as 
falco, "hawk;" foris, Fr. "hors;" facere, formosus, funtus, 
&c, Sp. " hacer," " hermoso," " humo," &c, — prove that, 
to the last, the Latin f contained some guttural element, 
in addition to the labial of which it was in part composed. 
It seems to me that f must have been sv, or, ultimately, 

1 In the same way as f seems to represent (p in the instances cited above, 
v also appears as a substitute both for cp and tt. Compare valgus, vallus, 
veru, virgo, and vitricus, with <po\ic6s, palus, ireipw, irapQevos, and pater 
(Buttmann, Lexil. s. v. <po\K6s). 

O 



194 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Cn. VII. 

ii v, and that v must have corresponded to our English w, 
With regard to the Greek cp, there can be no doubt that it 
was a distinct pli, like the middle sound in hop-hazard, 
shop -herd ; reduplications like Trefyvica {pe-plmka), and 
contacts like Henrico (Sapp'ho), sufficiently prove this. 
The forms of Latin words which seem to substitute f for 
this </> must be referred to the Pelasgian element in the 
Latin language : the Tuscans, as we have seen, were by 
no means averse from this sound ; and the Romans were 
obliged to express it by the written representative of a very 
different articulation. 

Of the tenuis p it is not necessary to say much. If we 
compare the Latin forms with their Greek equivalents, we 
observe that p, or pp, is used as a substitute for the <p (p'h) 
of which I have just spoken. Thus puniceus, caput, na- 
pura, prosper, &c, correspond to <powtK6o<;, icecpaXi), vacp- 
pov, nrpoa-fyopos, &c, and cruppellarii, cippus, -lappa, strop- 
pus, supparum, s-cloppus, topper, &c, answer to KpixpaXov, 
K6(j>a\ov, dKa\t](f)7], arpocpiov, vcpaata } fc6~\,a<fio$, a-rveppos, 
o--TV<pe\6<i (tapfer), &c. For the inferences deducible from 
this commutation, see N. Crat. p. 135. 

In the languages derived from the Latin, p very often 
passes into v. This is most regular in the French : comp. 
aperire, aprilis, capillus, episcopus, habere, lepus, opera, 
pauper, recipere, Sec, with ouvrir, avril, cheveu, gveque, 
avoir, lievre, oeuvre, pauvre, recevoir, &c. 

P is often inserted as a fulcrum to the labial m when 
a liquid follows : thus we have sumo, sum-p-si, sumptus ; 
promo, prom-p-si, prompius. 

Contact with the guttural j will convert p into ch=j. 
Compare rupes, roche; sapiam, sache ; &c. Conversely, 
but by a similar process, the termination -quam has become 
-piam. 

The labial liquid m occasionally takes the place of one 
or other of the labial mutes, even within the limits of the 



§ 2.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 195 

Latin language itself. It stands by the side of b in fama, 
glomus, hiems, melior, tumeo, Sec, compared with fabula, 
globus, hibernus, bonus (benus, bene, bellus, &c, /3eA.TtW, 
ftevTicrTos, See), tuber, &c. I am not aware that we have 
any example of the commutation of M with the labio-dental 
f. With v it is not uncommon : comp. Mulciber, Vulcanus ; 
pro-mulgare, pro-vulgare (compare di-vulgare) ; &c. This 
is still more remarkable if we extend the comparison to cog- 
nate languages : thus Mars, mas (maris), may be compared 
with FdpTjs, Fdpprjv, vir, virtus, " war," wehren, " warrior," 
'Oaplcov, and Minne " Minion," &c, with Venus, Winnes- 
jafte, &c. (Abhandl. Berl. Ah. 1826, p. 58). So also pud-v- 
Ti? may be compared with vatis ; at least, Plautus writes 
mantiscinari for vaticinari. The changes of p into m are 
generally observable in assimilations such as summus for 
supimus, supremus : in Greek, and in the passage between 
Greek and Latin, this change is common enough ; thus we 
have fierd by the side of ireSa, and /jlo\v{38o<; by the side 
of plumbum. In fact, m and n are more nearly akin to the 
medials b and d than to the tenues, and a thick articulation 
will always give the medials for the liquids. 

At the end of Latin words m is very often omitted in 
writing, and seems to have been still more frequently neg- 
lected in pronunciation. With regard to the written omis- 
sions, it was the rule to omit in the present tense of active 
verbs the important m which characterises the first person 
in many of the other tenses. In fact, the only verbs which 
retain it in the present tense are su-m and inqua-m : and it 
is mentioned as a custom of Cato the Censor, that he used 
also to elide the m at the termination of the futures of verbs 
in -o and -io (see Ch. VI. § 3). The metrical ecthlipsis, 
which disregards the final -m when a vowel follows, may be 
explained by supposing a sort of anusvdrah in the Latin 
language. 



196 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Ch. VII. 

GUTTURALS. 
The Roman gutturals are three, — the medial g, the as- 
pirate h, and the labio-guttural tenuis Qv. The regular 
changes of this order of mutes, as far as the Latin language 
is concerned, are proved by the following examples ; the 
law itself, as applied to the gutturals, being expressed thus : 

Latin, (Greek, Sanscrit) . G H C 

Gothic K G H, G. 

Old High German . . . CH K H, G. 

1st column. Initials: granum, O. N. horn, O. H. G. 
chom ; genus, kuni, chunni ; gena, O. N. kinn, O. H. G. 
chinni ; genu, kne, chnio ; gelu, gelidus, Gothic kalds, 
O. H. G. chalt ; gustare, kiusan, chiosan. Middle sounds : 
ego, ik, ih (ich); ager, ahrs, achar; magnus, mikils, michil ; 
jugum, juh, joch ; mulgere, O. N. miolka, O. H. G. melchan. 

2d column. Initials: hanser, gans, leans; heri, hester- 
nus, gistra, hestar ; Jwrtus, gards, harto ; hostis, gasts, hast ; 
homo, guma, homo, h is of rare occurrence as a middle 
sound in Latin ; we may, however, compare via, veha, with 
weg; veho with Goth, aigan; traho with Anglo-Sax. dra- 
gan, &c. 

3d column (in which I have substituted c for q v , be- 
cause the latter belongs to a different class of comparisons) . 
Initials : claudus, halt, hah ; caput, haubith, houbit ; cor, 
hairto, hema ; canis, hunths, hund. Middle sounds : lux, 
liuhad, licht ; tacere, thahan, dagen; decern, Goth, taihun, 
Lith. deszimts. 

Originally the Romans made no distinction between the 
gutturals c and g ; the former was the only sign used ; and 
although Ausonius says {Idyll, xii. de litteris, v. 21) : gamma 
vice functa prius c (see also Festus, s. w. prodigia, orcum) 
thereby implying that c expressed both the medial g and 
the tenuis k, there is reason to believe that in the older 
times the Romans pronounced c as a medial, and used q as 



§ 3.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 197 

their only tenuis guttural. This appears from the forms 
macestratus, leciones, &c, on the Duillian monument, and 
still more strikingly from the fact that the praanomens 
Gains, Gnceus (Talos, Tevvaloi), were to the last indicated 
by the initials C. and Cn. ; for in the case of a proper 
name the old character would survive the change of appli- 
cation. When, however, the Romans began to distinguish 
between the pure tenuis k and the labial tenuis q, they in- 
troduced a distinction between c and g, which was marked 
by the addition of a tail to the old character c, the letter 
thus modified being used to represent the medial, and the 
old form being transferred from the medials to the tenues. 
The author of this change was Sp. Carvilius, a freedman 
and namesake of the celebrated Sp. Carvilius Ruga, who, 
in a.u. c. 523, b.c. 231, furnished the first example of a 
divorce. See Plutarch, Qucest. Rom. p. 277 d. : to K 7r/>o? 
to T avyyivetav e^et trap avrols [the Romans], otye <yap 
e%p7)cravTO tw <ydfi/j,a KapfttXiov Xiropiov 7rpoo~e%evp6vTos. 
Id. p. 278 E. : oyjre r\p^avjo [xio-dov StSda/ceiv, /cal nrpoiTO^ 
aveay^e ypa^fxaroSiSaaKaXelov XiropLos Kapj3i\LO<i dire- 
Xevdepos KapjStXiov tov irpcorov <yafj,err]v eKfiakovTos. 
From the position in the alphabet assigned to this new 
character, — namely, the seventh place, corresponding to 
that of the Greek z, — there is reason to believe that the 
Roman c still retained the hard (/-sound, while the new 
character represented the soft sibilant pronunciation of the 
English j and the Greek z, which is also expressed by the 
modern Italian gi. 

The Latin h was a strong guttural aspirate, correspond- 
ing in position and in power to the Greek %. It is true 
that this character sometimes indicates a mere spiritus 
asper ; and in this use it is either dropt or prefixed, ac- 
cording to the articulation. In general, however, it was 
the strongest and purest of the Roman aspirated gutturals. 
Graff has remarked {Abhandl. Berl. Ah. 1839, p. 12) that 



198 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Ch. VII. 

there are three classes of aspirates — the guttural (11), i.e. 
the spiritus; the labial (w), i.e. the flatus; and the dental 
(s), i. e. the sibilatus : and he says that the Latin language 
entirely wants the first, whereas it possesses the labial aspi- 
rate in its q, and the dental perhaps in its x. This appears 
to me to be neither a clear nor a correct statement. With 
regard to h in particular, there can be no doubt that it is 
a strong guttural, quite as much so as the Greek %. This 
is established by the following comparison. The Latin h 
answers to % in the words litems (%eificov), hibemus {%6ifie- 
pwos), Mo [yalvw), humi (yafiai), Jwrtus (%opro?), &c. It 
represents the guttural c in trah-o, trac-si, veh-o, vec-si, &c. 
In a word, it corresponds to the hard Sanscrit h, for which, 
in the cognate Gothic and Greek words, either g, k, or 7, 
k, %, are substituted (comp. N. Crat. p. 128). 

With regard to q or Qv, a character almost peculiar to 
the Latin alphabet, a longer investigation will be necessary. 
It has been a common opinion with philologers that there 
were different classes of the tenuis guttural, varying with 
the vowel which articulated them ; thus, KaiTira, kaph, was 
followed only by a; H (Iieth) only by e; yl only by i; Koinra, 
koph, only by ; and q only by u. Lepsius (Zwei Abhandl. 
p, 18-31) has given a more rational and systematic form to 
this opinion, by supposing that there were three fundamen- 
tal vowels, a, i, u; that i was subsequently split up into i, e, 
and u into 0, u ; that one of the three fundamental vowels 
was prefixed to each row of mutes in the old organic syllaba- 
rium, so that all the medials were articulated with a, all the 
aspirates with i, and all the tenues with u. This form of 
the opinion, however, is by no means sufficient to explain 
the peculiarities of the Roman Qv ; and if it were, still it 
could not be adopted, as it runs counter to the results of a 
more scientific investigation into the origin of i and u. 

The difficulty which has been felt in dealing with the 
Latin q has proceeded chiefly from the supposition that 



§ 3.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 199 

the accompanying u or v must be either a distinct vowel 
or a distinct consonant; for if it is a vowel, then either it 
ought to form a diphthong with the accompanying vowel, 
or a distinct syllable with the q ; and neither of these cases 
ever happens : if, on the other hand, it is a consonant, the 
vowel preceding the q ought to be long by position ; and 
this is never the case even in the most ancient writers 
(see Graff, Abh. Berl Ah. 1839: " iiber den Buchstaben 

Q (Qv)"). 

It appears to me unnecessary to assume that the accom- 
panying u is either a distinct vowel or a distinct consonant. 
And herein consists the peculiarity of the Roman q : it 
cannot be articulated without the u, and yet the u has no 
distinct existence. The true explanation, I conceive, is 
the following. No attentive student of the Latin authors 
can have failed to observe how great a tendency there is in 
this language to introduce sounds consisting of an union 
of the guttural and labial. Such a sound is the digamma, 
which may be considered to have been the leading charac- 
teristic of the Pelasgian language both in Italy and in 
Greece. Now there are four states of this sound, besides 
its original condition, in which both guttural and labial 
have their full power : the first is when the labial pre- 
dominates, and this is expressed by the letter ¥=sv (hv) ; 
the second is when the guttural, predominates, and this is 
expressed by Qv; the third is when the guttural alone is 
sounded, and in this state it becomes the strong guttural 
H or k ; the fourth is when the labial alone is articulated, 
and from this we have the letter v. 

The great difference between f and Qv consists in this, 
that in the latter it is necessary to express both the in- 
gredients of the double sound, whereas they are both re- 
presented by one character in the former. Hence it has 
happened, that, while the guttural element of f has been 



200 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Ch. VII. 

overlooked by many philologers, they have over-estimated 
the independent value of the labial which accompanies q. 

A sound bearing the same relation to the medials that 
Qv does to the tenues is occasionally formed by the addition 
of v to g. This occurs only after n and r : thus we find 
tinguo, unguo, urgueo, by the side of tingo, ungo, urgeo. 
The former were probably the original words, the latter 
being subsequent modifications : compare guerra, " war," 
guardire, " ward," &c. with the French pronunciation of 
guerre, guardir, &c. (N. Crat. p. 120.) 

When the labial ingredient of Qv is actually vocalised 
into u, the q is expressed in classical Latin by the new 
tenuis c=k; thus quojus, quoi, the original gen. and dat. 
of qui, become cujus, cui ; quare becomes cur ; quoin is 
turned into cum ; sequundus, oquulus, torquular (comp. tor- 
queo), quiris (cf. Quirinus), &c, are converted into secun- 
dus, oculus, torcular, curis, &c. This is also the case when 
u is represented by the similar Roman sound of the o. 
Thus colo must have been originally quolo ; for q is the 
initial of quolonia on coins, and in-quilinus is obviously 
derived from in-colo. It is known, too, that coquus must 
have been pronounced quoquus even in Cicero's time ; for 
he made no difference in pronunciation between the par- 
ticle quoque and the vocative of coquus : see Quinctil. vi. 
3, § 47 : " Quae Ciceroni aliquando .... exciderunt, ut dixit, 
quum is candidatus, qui coqui films habebatur, coram eo 
suffragium ab alio peteret: ego quoque tibi favebo." The 
change of qva into cu is particularly remarkable when a 
syllable is shortened, on account of the heavier form in 
which it occurs ; as when quatio in composition becomes 
con-cutio, per-cutio, &c. 

The two constituent parts of Qv often exist separately 
in different forms of the same root : thus we have conniveo, 
connixi ; jio (<pvto), facio, f actus ; fluo, fiuxi ; foveo, focus ; 



§ 3.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 201 

juvo, jucundus ; lavo, lacus ; struo, strnxi ; vivo, vixi. The 
last is a double instance ; for there can be no doubt of the 
connexion between " quick" and vivus (for qviqvus). Com- 
pare eleven, twelve, with undecim, duodecim. Bopp's opi- 
nion, therefore (Vergleich. Gramm. pp. 18, 98), that there 
is some natural connexion between v and k in themselves, 
is altogether unfounded. 

In the comparison between Latin and Sanscrit we sel- 
dom find that Qv is represented by a Sanscrit k, but that 
it usually stands in cognate words where the Sanscrit has 
a palatal guttural or sibilant (N. Crat. p. 108) : compare 
quatuor, Sanscr. chatur; s-quama, Sanscr. chad, " tegere ;" 
quumulus, Sanscr. chi, "accumulare;" oc-cultus (pb-quultus) , 
Sanscr. jal, " tegere ;" sequor, Sanscr. sajj ; pequus, Sanscr. 
pacu; equus, Sanscr. acva; &c. When Qv stands by the 
side of a Sanscrit h, it is either when that letter is followed 
by e or i, — in which case the guttural approximates to the 
palatal, — or when the k stands before u or v. There are 
some instances in which the q t is represented by the labial 
p in Greek and Sanscrit ; and this is particularly remark- 
able in cases where the Qv occurs twice in the Latin word : 
compare the Latin quinque, quoquo (coquo), aqua, loquor, 
See, with the Sanscrit and Greek panchan, irepbire, pack, 
ireirw, dp, lap, &c. ; also equus, oquulus, sequor, linquo, &c, 
with Zttttos, o/Lifia, eTropuai, \eiir(o, Sec. 

Quinctilian says that the Latin q is derived from the 
Greek Koirira (i. 4, § 9) ; and there can be no doubt that 
they have a common origin. Now this Greek Koirira, 
which is of rare occurrence, is found, where it occurs in 
Greek inscriptions, only before o. Thus we have cpopiv- 
OoOev (Bockh, C. I. no. 29), opgov (n. 37), \vc?ohopica<i 
(n. 166); and on coins we have cpopivOos, Xvpa^ocnwv, &c. 
The explanation of this is simple : the letter o before a 
vowel expressed the sound of w, so far as the mouth of 



202 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Ch. VII. 

a Greek could convey this sound : compare olarpos, poift- 
80$, which imitate the whizzing noises of the wings of the 
gad-fly and the bird; 6a which represents the Persian 
lamentation wa! &c. Consequently, the syllable 90 must 
be regarded as the residuum of a syllable pronounced kwa, 
which was probably the pronunciation of the Latin Qv. At 
any rate, it is sufficiently evident from the single word 
XvcpoBopfcas that 9 and k could not have been identical 
at the time when the inscription was carved ; otherwise we 
should have had either \vico8opica<s or \vcpo8opcpa$. In 
fact, the word \vko$ must have been originally \u9009 
(luqvus), otherwise the labial in the Latin lupus would be 
inexplicable. Perhaps, too, as Graff suggests (u. s. p. 10, 
note 7), there are other Greek words containing the syl- 
lable ko or kv, which must have been written with 9 in 
the older state of the language. He selects the following, 
of which the Sanscrit equivalents have the palatals q, ch : 
Koa/Jbos, fc6ry%o<i, Koparj, /ccoj/09, Kvavos, Sanscrit qudh, 
" purificari ;" cankha, "concha;" cirsha, "caput;" co, 
" acuere," Lat. qvurvus ; chydma, " violaceus." The pas- 
sage from Qv into 90, kv, &c. may be illustrated also by 
the converse change from kv to qu in " liquorice," from 
yXvKvppl^a, &c, while the English articulation of " can" 
has entirely obliterated all traces of the q in the Latin 
queo, originally queno (cf. ne-quinont for ne-queunt), though 
the Greek kovvw (iEsch. Suppl. 75) and the German kon- 
nen still preserve this sound by implication. 

If we examine the changes which have taken place in 
the gutturals in their passage from the Roman to the Ro- 
mance languages, we are first struck by the general ten- 
dency to soften down or assibilate the tenuis c. The 
former process is effected by a change of c into ch : com- 
pare the Latin caballus, cadere, camera, cams, casa, castus, 
&c. with the French cheval, cheoir, chambre, chien, chez, 



§ 3.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 203 

chaste, &c. Of the assibilation of o we have many in- 
stances: such are, facimus, Fr. faisons ,- Ucere, loisir; pla- 
cer e, plaisir, &c. 

Another change in the Romance languages is the omis- 
sion of c when it is followed by a t: comp. dictus, It. 
ditto, Fr. dit; pectus, It. petto, Fr. poitrine, &c. c also 
disappears in French when in the Latin form it was fol- 
lowed by r. Compare lacrima, sacr amentum, &c. with 
larme, servient, &c. It is neglected in the same language 
when it stands between two vowels, especially when one or 
both are u (o) or i : compare apicula, corbicula, focus, jocus, 
locus, nocere, paucus, vices, &c. with abeille, corbeille, feu, 
jeu, lieu, nuire, peu, fois, &c. 

In some cases the French converts the tenuis c into the 
medial g. Compare aigre, aveugle, maigre, &c. with acer, 
aboculus, macer, &c. 

G is often omitted in the middle of French words : 
compare leg ere, Ligeris, mais, maistre, &c, with lire, Loire, 
magis, magister, &c. 

The French and Italians generally neglect the guttural 
h. The old hard sound of this aspirate is quite unknown 
to them. 

Although the sibilant is in some cases akin to the 
dental class, the Latin sibilants x and s must be considered 
as belonging altogether to the gutturals. The Romans had 
a dental sibilant in their r, of which I shall speak directly ; 
but these two seem to have in themselves no connexion 
with the dentals, beyond the circumstance that r is fre- 
quently derived from s by the substitution of a dental 
articulation, in the same way as 6 stands for cr in OaXaaaa 
for crdXacraa, &c, and as the lisping Englishman says yeth 
for yes. 

If we consider x in its common acceptation, it is a 
direct combination of the guttural c or g with the sibilant 
s. This must, of course, be its power in rexi, flexi, See. 



204 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Ch. VII. 

But it was not always equivalent to this combination either 
in sound or in origin. Sometimes it stands for the dental 
£=dj, as in ricca compared with epi&s, ipl^o), &c. And 
even when it was derived immediately from a guttural and 
s, the sibilant seems to have overpowered the guttural, 
which was either lost altogether or pronounced only as an 
aspiration. We have traces of this in the modern Italian 
pronunciation of Alessandro, vissi, &c. The Greek %l de- 
rived its name from the Hebrew shin, and perhaps occa- 
sionally represented it in sound. A sibilant or aspirate 
often changes its place : thus the Gothic hv is in English 
wh, the Greek hr is the Latin rh, and the Greek g=K(r- 
might occasionally be aic- : compare the transposition in 
the oriental words Iscander, Scanderoon, Candahar, all de- 
rived from the Greek A\e-$;av8po<;. The last of these 
words is a mutilation which reminds us of the modern 
Scotch division of the name Alexander into the two abbre- 
viations Alick and Saunders or Sandy. When the trans- 
position was once effected, the softening of the guttural was 
obvious and easy: compare cr^eTTuo?, " scathe," schade ; 
■^dpfir], " s-kirmish/' s chirm, &c. 

The Latin • s is principally remarkable as standing at 
the beginning of words, the Greek equivalents of which 
have only an aspirate : compare sal, sex, septem, sol, sylva, 
simul, sedere, sequi, somnus, &c, with aXs, e£, eirra, r}\io<>, 
vXFrj, dfia, e'^eaOaL, eirofiai, virvos, &c. Though in some 
cases even this aspirate has vanished : as in avat~, el, iWos, 
&c, compared with senex, si, sileo, Sec. It frequently hap- 
pens that in the more modern forms of the Roman lan- 
guage an original s has been superseded by the dental 
sibilant r. Thus Quinctilian tells us (i. 4, § 13) that Va- 
lesius, Fusius, arbos, labos, vapos, clamos, and lases (cf. Pest. 
s. v.), were the original forms of Valerius, Furius, arbor, 
labor, vapor, clamor, and lares ; and it is clear that honor, 
honestus, are only different forms of onus, onustus. It is 



§ 4.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 205 

rather surprising that the Jurist Pomponius {Digg. i. 2, 2, 
§ 36) should have attributed to Appius Claudius Csecus 
(consul i. a.u.c. 447, b.c. 307 ; consul n. a.u.c. 458, B.C. 
296) the invention of a letter which is the initial of the 
names Roma and Romulus. He can only mean that Appius 
was the first to introduce the practice of substituting r for 
s in proper names, a change which he might have made in 
his censorship. It appears, from what Cicero says, that 
L. Papirius Crassus, who was consul in a.u.c. 418, b.c. 336, 
was the first of his name who did not call himself Papisius 
{ad Famil. ix. 21) : " How came you to suppose," says 
Cicero, writing to L. Papirius Psetus, " that there never 
was a Papirius of patrician rank, when it is certain that 
they were patricii minorum gentium ? To begin with the 
first of these, I will instance L. Papirius Mugillanus, who, 
in the year of the city 312, was censor with L. Sempronius 
Atratinus, who had previously (a.u.c. 310) been his col- 
league in the consulship. But your family-name at that 
time was Papisius. After him there were thirteen of your 
ancestors who were curule magistrates before L. Papirius 
Crassus, the first of your family that disused the name 
Papisius. This Papirius in the year was chosen dictator 
in a.u.c. 415, with L. Papirius Cursor for his magister 
equitum, and four years afterwards he was elected consul 
with K. Duilius." We must conclude, therefore, that Ap- 
pius Claudius used his censorial authority to sanction a 
practice, which had already come into vogue, and which 
was intimately connected with the peculiarities of the Ro- 
man articulation. In fact, the Romans were to the last 
remarkable for the same tendency to rhotacism, which is 
characteristic of the Umbrian, Dorian, and Old Norse 
dialects. 

DENTALS. 
The Romans had five dentals or linguals : the mutes d § 4 
and t, the liquids l and n, and the secondary letter r 



The dentals. 



206 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Ch. VII. 

which in most alphabets is considered a liquid, but in the 
Latin stands for an aspiration or assibilation of the medial 
d. Grimm's law, as applied to the dentals, stands thus : 

Latin, (Greek, Sanscrit) . D T 

Gothic T D Z, TH 

Old High German . . , Z T D 

The following examples will serve to establish the rule. 

1st column. Initials: dingua, lingua, tuggo, zunga ; 
deus, O. N. tyr, O. H. G. ziu; dens, dentis, Goth, tunthus, 
O. H. G. zand; domare, tamjan, zenien ; dolus, O. N. tdl, 
zdla ; ducere, Goth, tiuhan, O. H. G. ziohan ; duo, tva, 
zuei ; dextra, taihsvo, zesawa. Middle sounds : sedes, se- 
der e, sitan, sizan; e-dere, itan, ezan ; videre, vitan, ivizan; 
odium, hatis, haz ; u-n-da, vato, wazar ; sudor, sveiti, sweiz ; 
pedes, fotjus, vuozi. 

2d column. The Latin has no 6 ; and when the r 
stands for the D, there are generally other coexistent forms 
in which the medial is found. For the purpose of com- 
parison Grimm has selected some Latin words in which a 
Latin f stands by the side of the Greek 9. Initials : fores 
(dvpa), daur, tor ; fera {6r)p), O. N. dyr, O. H. G. tior. 
Middle sounds: audere, ausus (Oappelv), gadauran, turran; 
mathu, Tusc. (Gr. /JbiOv), Anglo-Sax. medo, O. H. G. metu. 

3d column. Initials: tu, Gothic thu; O. H. G. du ; 
tener, Q. N. thunnr, O. H. G. dunni; tendere, Goth, than- 
jan, O. H. G. denen; tacere, tlialian, dagen; tolerare, thu- 
lan, dolen ; tectum, thak, dack. Middle sounds : f rater, 
brothar, pruoder ; rota, O. N. hradhr (" celer "), O. H. G. 
hrad (" rota"); a-l-ter (Umbr. Tusc. etre), anthar, andar ; 
iterum, vithra, widar. 

Of the commutations of the dentals with one another 
in the Latin language alone, the most constant is the inter- 
change of d with l or r. d becomes l in delicare (Fest. 
pp. 70, 73), impelimenia, levir, Melica (Fest. p. 124), ol- 



§ 4.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 207 

facit, for dedicare, impedimenta, Saijp, Medica, odefacit ; 
and is assimilated to l in such words as mala, ralla, scala, 
sella, from ma-n-do, rado, sca-n-do, sedeo : the converse 
change is observable in 'OSi/ercreu?, JToXuSey/c?;?, Sdicpvov 
(dacrima, Fest. p. 68), SayfrtXtfs, dingua (O. H. G. zunga), 
Capitodium, meditari, Jcadamitas, adauda, &c, the more 
genuine forms of which are preserved in the Ulysses (6\l- 
709), Pol-lux (comp. Sevtces, Hesych. with lux), lacryma 
(liqueo), lapsilis (\d7rrc0), lingua (Xefyeiv), Capitolium, /ne- 
\erav, calamitas, alauda, &c. : Sew, on the contrary, is a 
more ancient form than ligare (see N. Crat. p. 189). This 
change takes place within the limits of the Greek language 
also : comp. SetSco with SeiXo?, 8a<; (SaSo?) with SaXos, &c, 
though in many of these cases there is the residue of an 
original assimilation, as in rcaXos, root icah-, cf. /ea£&>, &c. 
The change is also observable in the passage from Latin to 
the Romance languages : thus Digentia has become Licenza, 
and the people of Madrid call themselves Madrilenos. The 
other dentals, t and n, are also sometimes converted into 
l : as in Thetis, Thelis ,- Nympha, Lympha, &c. (see Varro, 
L. L. vii. § 87). In some cases there is a passage from 8 
to A, in Greek, as in aSrjv, a\i<; (compare satis) ; and the 
Greek 6 in Oooprjj; is represented by an I in lorica. There 
is an interchange of n and r in cereus, ceneus ; in m,urus, 
munio ; in Scopov, donum ; Tikrjprjs (Etr. phleres), plenus, 
&c. The ablative or adverbial d has become n in lon- 
guinquus, prcpinquus, from longe[d~\, prope[d~\ ; compare 
antiquus, posticus, from antea, postea, amicus from amo 
(amao), &c. 

The change from d to r has been often pointed out, in 
such common instances as aur-is compared with aud-io, apor 
for apud, meridie for media die, ar-vocat for ad-vocat, &c. 
The verb arcesso, which is also written accerso, furnishes a 
double example of the change : the original form was ad- 
ced-so = accedere sino ; in arcesso the first d is changed 



208 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Ch. VII. 

into r, and the second assimilated to s : in accerso the first 
d is assimilated to c, and the second changed to r. 

N is principally remarkable in Latin from its use as 
a sort of anusvdrah (see N. Crat. p. 303). In this use it 
is inserted, generally before the second consonant of the 
root, as in tu-n-do, root tud-; ji-n-do, root fid-, &c. ; but 
sometimes after it, as in ster-n-o, root ster-, stra-; sper-n-o, 
root sper-, spre-; po-n-o, root pos-, See. 

Conversely, N becomes evanescent in certain cases, par- 
ticularly before s and v. Thus consul is written cosol 
(abbreviated into cos) ; and we find cesor, infas, vicies, vice- 
simus, for censor, infans, viciens, vicensumus. This omis- 
sion of N is regular in the Greek participles in -et?, and in 
other words, e.g. oSovs ; it seems also to have been the rule 
in Umbrian. The most important instance of the omission 
of n before v is furnished by the common word contio, de- 
rived from conventio through the form coventio, 1 which is 
found in old inscriptions. Similarly, convent becomes co- 
vent (" Covent -garden," &c), Confluentes is turned into 
Coblenz, and filnf into "five." In English the prefix con 
is shortened into co- before all consonants, in spite of the 
remonstrances of Bentley. 

With regard to the changes experienced by the dentals 
in the passage from Latin to the Romance dialects, the fol- 
lowing instances may suffice, d and t when preceded and 
followed by vowels are frequently dropt in the French 
forms of Latin words : (a) d : cauda (It. coda, Sp. cola), 
Fr. queue ; fides, Fr. foi ; media-nocte, Fr. mi-nuit ; nudus, 
Fr. nu; vadum, Fr. gue; videre, Fr. voir. 2 (b) t: ad-s'atis, 
Fr. as-sez (originally assetz); amatus, Fr. aime; Catalauni, 
Fr. Chalons ; pater, Fr. pere ; vita, Fr. vie. On the con- 

1 Contio stands related to coventio as nuntius to novi-ven-tius -, comp. 
nov-i-tius. 

2 The French sometimes drop the d before a guttural in words of German 
extraction, as in Huguenot for Eidgenossen. 



§ 4.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 209 

trary, d is sometimes inserted as a fulcrum between the 
liquids n and r, as in cendre, gendre, tendre, from ciner-is, 
gener, tener ; viendr-ai, tiendr-ai, for venir-ai (venire habeo), 
tener-ai (tenere habeo), &c. ; vendredi for Veneris die, See. 
This will remind the classical student of the similar inser- 
tion in the Greek av-S-pos, &c. ; and both the Greeks and 
the Romans apply the same principle to the labials also. 

The indistinctness with which the French pronounce n 
at the end of a word has given rise to some etymological, 
or rather orthographical, inconsistencies in that language. 
Not the least remarkable of these is the appearance of s 
instead of m or n in the first person of many verb-forms. 
If we compare suis with the Italian sono on the one hand, 
and the Spanish soy on the other, we may doubt whether 
the s in this and other French forms is the ultimate reso- 
lution of the nasal n, or an arbitrary orthographic append- 
age. The whole question is one which demands a formal 
examination. 

L, n, r, are frequently interchanged as the Latin passes 
into the Romance idiom, l passes into r 1 in apotre, epitre, 
titre, &c, from apostolus, epistola, titulus, &c. ; — n into l 
in alma, Barcelona, Bologna, Lehrixa, from anima, Barcino, 
Bononia, Nebrissa ; — n into r in diacre from diaconus. 

L is a representation of d in Giles from JEgidius, in 
ellera for edera, and in Versiglia for Vesidia. 

The Italians vocalise l into i when it follows certain 
consonants: compare clamare, claries, clavis, flos, Florentia, 
fluctus,flumen, obliquus, Placentia, planus, plenus, &c, with 
chiamare, chiaro, chiave,fiore, Fiorenze, Firenze,jiotto,fiume, 
bieco (Fr. biais, Engl. " bias"), Piacenza, piano, pieno, &c. 

1 Ad-ulare seems to be an instance of the converse change from r to l : 
for this compound is from ad and ula = ovpd, and refers, like the Greek 
ffaiveiv (= aeieiv, " to shake or wag"), to the dog blandishing, fawning, and 
wagging his tail. The older etymologers connect it with ad-oro; but this is 
another word similarly formed from ad and os, and corresponding literally to 
the Greek irpos-Kwica. 

P 



210 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Ch. VII. 

The French vocalise the Latin l into u, which seems to 
have been in the first instance only an affection of the pre- 
vious vowel, into which the l was subsequently absorbed. 
Thus alter was first written aultre, and then autre. This 
affection of a preceding vowel by the liquid which follows 
is not uncommon in other languages. The Greeks in some 
of their dialects pronounced the vowel broad before or after 
p : comp. cj)pa<rL with fypeai, &c. : and the common people 
in Dorsetshire pronounce o like a when it is followed by r 
and another consonant; thus George is pronounced Gearge, 
storm,, starm, &c. The French absorption of the l is almost 
universal: it is regular in the dative of the article au=a, 
le, aux = a, les ; in the plurals of nouns in /, as animates, 
animaux ; canales, canaux, &c. But it is also found in 
a number of other words, in which the vowel preceding / 
is not a; even when it is u : compare aliquis units, alt are, 
iXe^juuoauvT), Bulgare, felix (like 6 -fiafcapiTTjs, used in 
speaking of the dead), ulna, &c, with the French aucun, 
autel, aumone, bougre, feu (anciently written feux and 
feulx), aune, &c. 

VOWELS. 
§ 5. The philological student must always bear in mind that 

(ivowes. f-^gyg are t wo c ]i s tinct classes of vowels; the one containing 
the vowels of articulation, a, e, o; the other comprising 
the vocalised consonants I and u. In other words, there 
are only three distinct vowels, a, i, u; for e and o differ 
from a in weight only. 

The original alphabet is a syllabarium consisting of 
breathings and consonants, which are articulated by the 
sound a. Now the character a in its original application 
denotes the lightest of the breathings, the character e the 
heaviest of them, and the character o a breathing which is 
intermediate in weight. Consequently, on the principle 
that the lightest vowel alwa}'s co-exists with the heaviest 
form (see N. Crat. pp. 104, 300, 451), when these breath- 



§ 5.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 211 

ings were no longer indicated by distinct characters, a 
would represent the heaviest articulation-vowel, e the 
lightest, and o that which stands between them in point of 
weight. That this is actually the order of the articulation- 
vowels, considered in respect to the weight of the combi- 
nations in which they are found, is clearly established by 
an examination of the existing forms in the most perfect 
of the Indo-Germanic languages. 

The vowels I and u result from the vocalisation, not of 
breathings, — as is the case with a, e, o, — but of mutes. 
The former is the ultimate state of the softened or assibi- 
lated gutturals and dentals, the latter is the residuum of 
the labials (N. Crat. p. 115, sqq.). But, though they are 
of different origin from a and its subordinates, they must 
be considered, especially in the Latin language, as occa- 
sionally approximating in sound to the vowels derived 
from breathings, and as representing them in certain cases, 
where forms of an intermediate weight require an inter- 
mediate weight of vowels. This will be best shewn by ex- 
amples, from which it will appear that the vowels I and u 
have shades of value, or rather that they admit of subdivision 
into other vowels, differing from them in weight, as e and o 
differ from a, but not expressed in different characters, at 
least in the existing written remains of the Latin language. 

It has been remarked that the a of the root-syllable is 
changed into i or e in secondary formations according to 
a fixed rule : namely, the a becomes i when the root-syl- 
lable in the longer form remains otherwise unchanged ; but 
the a is turned into e when the root-syllable is followed 
immediately by an adscititioifs consonant, or when the con- 
sonant following the root-vowel is thrown back upon the 
vowel by some consonantal vowel like i, or e = y (see Bopp, 
Vergleich. Granim. p. 5; Rosen, Journal of Education, viii. 
p. 344; N. Crat. p. 800). The following examples may 
suffice to establish this : 



212 



ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Ch. VII. 



factum 
fallo . 



nor 
jacio . 
taceo . 
tango . 



A I E 

amicus . . . in-imicus . . , " enmity." 
arma in-ermis. 

in-ers. 

im-berbis. 

oc-ciput . . f bi-ceps. 

prin-cipium . < prce-ceps. 

sin-ciput . . I prin-ceps. 

ce-cidi. 

stilli-cidium. 

ce-cini . 

tubi-cinis 

!con-Jicio 
pro-ficiscor 



ars 

barba 

caput 

cado 
cano . 
facio 



■i 



ab-jicio 

con-ticesco. 

con-tingo. 



!con-centus. 
tubi-cen. 
j" con-fectus. 
\ pro-fectus. 
. pro-fecto. 
. fe-felli. 
. pro-festus. 
. re-gredior. 
. ab-jectus. 



The cause of the change from i to e is further shewn 
by the change back again from e to I when the root is not 
followed by two consonants: thus, bi-ceps, &c, become 
bi-cipitis, &c. in the genitive ; and similarly tubi-cen[s] 
makes tubi-cinis. Another change from i to e is to be 
remarked in the transformation of the diphthongs ai, oi 
into ae and oe. 

The next comparison, in point of weight, which sug- 
gests itself is that between the secondary vowels I and u ; 
and in order to make this comparison satisfactorily, it will 
be well to consider first their subdivisions. It appears, 
then, that there are three distinct uses of each of these 
vowels: I is (1) a very long vowel, the representative of 



§ 5.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 213 

the diphthong ai= ae ; (2) a vowel of medium length, fre- 
quently, as we have seen above, the representative of a, 
the first part of that diphthong; (8) a very short vowel, 
approximating to the sound of the shortest u, and used 
chiefly before r, Similarly, u is (1) a very long vowe], the 
representative of the diphthong oi = oe ; (2) a vowel of 
medium length, generally answering to o, the first part of 
that diphthong ; (3) a very short vowel, approximating to 
the sound of the shortest i, and used chiefly before l. The 
old Italians had separate characters for i 3 and u 3 , which dif- 
fered from the other characters by the addition of certain 
marks : i 3 was written f, like a mutilated f, and u 3 was 
written V. It is remarkable that the emperor Claudius, 
when he introduced his new letters into the Roman alpha- 
bet to express the consonant v, the Greek ty, and the modi- 
fication i 3 , while he inverted the digamma (thus d) to ex- 
press the first, and joined two sigmas (thus x) to express 
the second, which was consequently called antisigma (Pris- 
cian, p. 545 ; Putsch, i. p. 40, Krehl), was contented to 
borrow the third from the old alphabet of the Oscans. 

The following examples will justify the subdivision 
which I have made of the vowels I and u. 

Ij. — In composition we find this long vowel in the root- 
syllable of words which contain the diphthong ai = ae. 
Thus, from ces-timo we have ex-istimo ; from cequus we have 
in-iquus ; ccedo, con-cido, oc-cido ; qucero, in-quiro ; See. 

I 2 . — This is the commonest power of the Roman i. It 
is, however, a representative of a in other cases besides those 
given above : thus, inter stands for the old antar, ille re- 
presents the Sanscrit anya, old Latin ollus, &c. 

I 3 .- — The sound of this letter is indicated by a passage 
in Velius Longus (p. 2235, Putsch) : " Unde fit, ut saepe 
aliud scribamus, aliud enuntiemus, sicut supra (p. 2219) 
locutus sum de viro et virtute, ubi I scribitur et paene v 
enuntiatur ; unde Ti. Claudius novam quandam litteram 



214 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Ch. VII. 

excogitavit, similem ci notae, quam pro aspiratione Graeci 
ponunt, per quam scriberentur eao voces, quae neque secun- 
dum exilitatem Utter* I, neque secundum pinguitudinem 
litterae v sonant, ut in viro et virtute, neque rursus secun- 
dum latum litterae sonum enuntiarentur, ut in eo quod est 
legere, scribere." From this passage we learn that I before 
r was pronounced somewhat like u, as is the case with us ; 
and we also draw the important inference that legere and 
scribere must have been pronounced lire and scrire. In 
augur and the proper name Spurius this pronunciation 
seems to be expressed by the vowel u. The latter is a de- 
rivative from super, and is equivalent in meaning to Super- 
bus (above, Chap. IV. § 2) ; the former is a derivative from 
avi-gero, as may be proved by a curious analogy between 
the derivatives of avis, " a bird," and ce-s, " a weight or 
burden." For as cedi-ti-mus means a person who is con- 
versant with a temple (Fest. p. 13 = <zdis intimus), so avi- 
timus would mean " conversant with birds," oes-timus, " con- 
versant with weights ;" hence, as augury and weighing were 
the two most usual means of forming a judgment, both au- 
tumo and ces-lumo signified " to judge." Comp. the use of 
con-templor, con-sidero. Again, as ce-ger signifies " bearing 
a burden," or " burdened," and ne-ger, " not able to bear," or 
" weak" (Fest. p. 165, s. v. ne-gritu[dd\), so augur would 
mean " bearing a bird," or " dealing with birds " (belli-ger, 
Sec.) : comp. au-spex, &c. 

The existence of such a short vowel as i 3 is necessary 
for the explanation of those forms in which I appears to 
be lighter than e. Thus, from lego, rego, teneo, we have 
col-ligo, di-rigo, re-tineo ; and the i thus introduced is so 
short, that it is omitted altogether in some compounds of 
rego, as per[f\-go, sur[r~\-go. In the rustic pronunciation 
of the Italians i was frequently dropped (as in ame, from 
animus), and the e, on the other hand, was lengthened 
improperly; see Cic. de Orat. iii. 12, § 46: " Quare Cotta 



§ 5.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 215 

noster, cujus tu ilia lata, Sulpici, nonnumquam imitaris, ut 
iota litteram tollas, et e plenissimum dicas, non mihi ora- 
tores antiquos, sed messores videtur imitari." 

U x . — The interchange of the diphthong oi = oe with this 
value of u is of constant occurrence. Thus we have oinos, 
unus ; mcenus, munus ; &c. ; and in Boeotian Greek epv for 
i/jboi (Apollon. de Pronom. p. 364<). The observation of 
some of these changes leads to interesting etymologies ; as, 
for instance, in the case of the word prcelium, formerly 
written proilium (see Muretus, Far. Lect. vi. 4). The 
Greeks, like the Highlanders of Scotland, placed their 
best-armed soldiers in the first line, and by these the 
battle was begun and generally decided. Hence these 
tfpcoe? or oTrXirai were called irpvXee<i, — which is inter- 
preted TrpofjLaxpL (see Hermann, Opusc. iv. p. 289 ; Miiller, 
Dor. iii. \2, § 10), and is undoubtedly another form oiirpo- 
tXe'e? ; and hence the skirmish or battle between the van of 
the two armies was termed 'Trpo-iXiov or prcelium. This 
etymology is confirmed by the obvious derivation of milites. 
The Greek language expressed large numbers in terms de- 
rived from common objects : thus, %i\ioi, " a thousand," 
is connected with %*A-6?, " a heap of fodder ;" and /xvpcoc, 
" ten thousand," with fxvpw, " to pour forth water." Simi- 
larly, the Latin m-ile, " a thousand," means only " a large 
number," " a crowd" {6p,-i\la); and m-il-ites are " those 
who march in a large body " (compare pari-etes, " those 
which go round," scil. the house), i. e. " the common sol- 
diers." So that we have three classes of warriors: (1) the 
7rpi;A.ee9, i. e. Trpo-ikees or r}pwe<5, " the choice troops who 
fought in the van ;" (2) the [ha]m-ilites, or " common sol- 
diers, who marched in a body ;" (3) the equ-ites, or " ca- 
valry, who went on horseback." 

In the same way as the diphthong ai becomes i 15 the 
diphthong au becomes u x : comp. causa, ac-cuso ; claudo, 
in-cludo ; &c. The same is the case with the Greek diph- 



216 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Ch. VII. 

thong ov, @ou/cf St8?79, Thucydides, &c. ; and even with its 
Latin equivalent ou, — thus we have indouco for induco on 
the bronze table of Tivoli (above, Chap. VI. § 19). The 
diphthong au is sometimes represented by d= au, as in San- 
scrit: comp. plaudo, ex-plodo ; Claudius, Clodius ; &c. In 
ob-oedio, from audio, au is represented by the lighter diph- 
thong 01 ; and it is a further proof of the tendency to in- 
terchange between u a and i 1} that the diphthong oi=oe, 
which is so often represented by u 1} also appears as ij : 
thus, oiconomus is written iconomus, SSolSokos appears as 
hodidocus, Olvo/j,ao<; as Inomaus, KOL/xrjr^ptov as cimete- 
rium, &c. Sometimes, on the contrary, oe is represented 
by the first vowel only, as in diocesis, poema, Sec, from 
SiolfCTjcns, TroiTj/jba, &c. (see Gifanius, in Mureti Opp. i. 
p. 550, Ruhnken.) With regard to iroikw, the omission 
of the i was common enough in Greek (see Porson, Tracts, 
p. 63 ; Dindorf, ad Arist. Nub. 1448, Acharn. 410). 

Ua. — This is the common short u of the Romans. It 
corresponds generally to the short o of the Greeks; and 
nouns of the o-declension always exhibit this u in Latin : 
comp. \vko<;, lupus; ittttos, equus; &c. It is probably a 
remnant of the Etruscan u. 

U 3 . — This letter, like i 3 , must be considered as a point 
of contact between i and u. Indeed, it may be doubtful 
in some cases whether u 3 has not been written for i 3 . The 
passage of this u 3 into an approximate I is of the follow- 
ing nature: — First, a short o is changed into u 2 . The 
genitive of the Greek imparisyllabic declension ends in 
-0? : for this the oldest Latin substitutes -us, as in Cas- 
torus, nominus, &c. compared with Senatuos, &c. Some 
of these old genitives remained to the end of the language, 
as alius, ejus, hujus, illius, &c. Again, the 1st pers. plur. 
of the Greek verb ended in -o/u,ev = -o/u,e<;: for this the old 
Romans wrote -umus, a form still preserved in sumus and 
Again, in old Latin the vowel of the crude form 



§ 6.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 217 

is preserved in the inflexions, as in arcu-bus, optu-mus, 
pontu-fex, Sec. But in all three cases the later Latin 
exhibits an I : thus we have Castoris, nominis, Sec. ; dici- 
mus, scribimus, Sec. ; arcibus, optimus, pontifex, Sec. In 
these cases we observe that u = o passes into a simple i. 
But there are other instances in which the transition seems 
to go still further. As the reduplication-syllable is gene- 
rally shorter than the root-syllable in the preterite of 
verbs, we should expect that the u, o in the first syl- 
lable of cu-curri, mo-mordi, pu-pugi, tu-tudi, would be an 
approximation rather to u 3 . Then, again, in cultus, culmen, 
Sec. from colo, columen, Sec. the u is clearly less significant 
than o. But there are some cases in which we infer that 
the u, which is written, has less weight even than I. This 
might be inferred from con-culco, the secondary form of 
calco, which, according to the above table, should be 
either con-cilco or con-celco; and also from difficultas, se- 
pultus, derived from difficilis and sepelio. The fact seems 
to be, that what would be I before r, becomes u 3 before 
l ; so that u s , i 3 , are both ultimate forms of their respective 
vowels, and as such are in a state of convergence. 

Accordingly, if we should seek to arrange the Latin 
vowels in regard to their comparative weight, we should, 
as the result of this inquiry, have the following order : 

A (as in musd, Sec), U 13 L ; A, O, U 2 , I 2 , E, U 3 , I 3 . 

GREEK LETTERS. 
The Greek letters subsequently employed by the Ro- § 6. 

mans were z, k, and y. The period at which the first of tersusedbythe 
these was introduced is doubtful; for while, on the one Romans, 
hand, we are told that z is found in the Salian songs 
(Velius Longus, p. 2217 : " Mihi videtur nee aliena ser- 
moni fuisse z littera, cum inveniatur in carmine Saliari"), 
on the other hand we find that, even in words borrowed 



218 ANALYSTS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Ch. VII. 

from the Greek, this letter is represented by di, as in 
Sabadius for %e/3a%o<; (Apulei. Met. viii. 170), judaidiare 
for judaizare (Commodian, Instruct, adv. Gent. c. xxxvii. 
634), trapedia for trapeza (Auctor. Rei Agrar. p. 248), 
schidia for schiza, oridia for oriza, &c. (vide Schneid. Ele- 
mentarl. i. p. 386 ; and Lobeck, Aglaoph. p. 296, note /). 
The fact seems to be, that the Romans had two different 
characters to express the two different values of the Greek 
z, which was a dental, either assibilated (as a8), or softened 
(as Sy). Now, in its latter use it becomes equivalent to 
the softened guttural ; for the dental and guttural, when 
combined with y, which is the ultimate vocalisation of the 
gutturals, converge in the sound of our j or sh (N. Crat. 
pp. 126, 288). When, therefore, the Greek z more nearly 
approximates to the sound aS, either this is preserved in 
the Latin transcriptions, as in Mesdentius, Sdepherus, for 
Mezentias, Zepliyrus (Max. Victor, p. 1 945) ; or the 8 is 
assimilated to the a, as in Messentius, massa, Atticisso, 
comissor, badisso, malacisso, &c. by the side of Mezentius, 
/xd^a, ^AttlkI^co, Koofjid^a), /3a8l£(D, fxakaKi^w, Sec. ; or else 
one or other of the two component parts is omitted, as in 
Saguntus for Zakynthus, or Medentius for Mezentius. In 
this case, too, we may consider that the letter x occasion- 
ally steps in, as in rixa by the side of ept[S]9. When, 
however, the Greek z is a softened B, and therefore equi- 
valent to a softened guttural, we find that it is represented 
either by the full combination di, as in the cases quoted 
above, or else by the vocalised guttural (j) only. Of this 
latter substitution there are numberless instances : such, as, 
Ju-piter, Zev<i -uanqp ; jugum, £evyo<; ; &c. Of these the 
most important are the cases connected with the first- 
quoted example, Ju-piter = Dies-pater ; and I must take 
this opportunity of returning to one etymology belonging 
to this class, which has always appeared to me to open 
the way to a chain of the most interesting associations. 



§ 6.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 219 

It has been shewn elsewhere (N. Crat. p. 130) how the 
Greek h, originally the mark of aspiration, came to be 
used as a sign for the long e. Out of that investigation 
it appeared — (1) that a short vowel aspirated may be equi- 
valent to an unaspirated long vowel ; (2) that the vocalised 
consonants i and u may change their place ; (3) that these 
vocalised consonants may be absorbed into or represented 
by the long vowel only. To the instances given there, I 
will now add the iota subscriptum of the Greek dative, 
and the Ionic Greek absorption of v after w, as in Ocov/xa, 
ecovTov, &C. 1 These principles explain the connexion 
between rJ7rap, jecur (Sanscr. yakrit) ; rjp,iav, Sid/xecros, 
dimidius ; and between rj/j,ipa = Sid/ji,epo<;, and dies 2 (comp. 
diuturnus, jutuma; Diana, Janus, &c). Now, besides 
rj/jbipa, we have an adjective rjp,epo$, " civilised," " culti- 
vated," &c. the regular antithesis of aypio?; and it has 
been suggested (ibid. p. 181), that this word was originally 
applied to a country through which there was a road or 
passage, a country divided by a road (8idp,epos) ; just as 
aypio? was properly applied to a rude, open country, with 
nothing but aypot. This is sufficiently proved by iEsch. 
Eumen. 13, 14 : KekevOoirotoi 7ral8e<i 'HcpatcrTov, yQova 
dvrjpuepov Ti0evre<; rjp,€pcop,evr]v. Pind. Isthm. iii. 76 (iv. 
97): vavTikiaiai re wopO/mov d/xepdoaaTO. Herod, i. 126: 
ivdavra 6 Kvpos (rjv yap 6 ^copo? — dfcavddo$r)<; — ) tovtov 
a<f)c tov ^wpov irpoel'rre i^rjfiepcoaat iv rjfiipa. iv. 118: 

1 In many editions of Herodotus we have these words written doov^a, 
koivTov, &c. ; but the accentuation of Ooovixa. sufficiently proves that it is a dis- 
syllable ; and even if we had not this evidence, it would be contrary to all 
analogy to infer a resolution of a diphthong in a crasis, the sole object of 
which is to shorten the word. Why should twvt6 be written, if it were a 
word of as many syllables as rh avro ? 

2 In the name of the city 'l^ipa. (another form of Tiixepa, see Bockh's note 
on Pindar, 0. xii. 13-21, p. 210), the preposition Sid is represented by the 
aspirated i. In the word meri-die also the syllables ia are contracted into i. 
There is a similar contraction in anti-quus, posti-cus, from antea, postea. 



220 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Ch. VII. 

7oi/<i alel i/j,7ro8cov ytvofievow; rj/xepovTai irdvra<i. In all 
of these passages the verb rj/xepoa) implies making a clear 
passage or road ; and in Plato {Legg. p. 761 a.) the ad- 
jective rjiMepo<i is used as a predicate of ohos : SSwv re 
€7ri/jLe\ov/uevov<;, oircos G09 r)/ji€pdoraTat e/caaTCu yiyvcovrai. 1 
That the Greeks connected road-making with civilisation 
in general, and with the peaceful commerce of man with 
man, appears from many passages (Aristotle, irepl Oavfia- 
crlcov aKova/xdrcov, c. 85, p. 837, Bekk. ; Thucydides, i. 2, 
compared with i. 13, &c.) ; and this is generally implied in 
all the legends relating to Hercules and Theseus. But it 
has not been sufficiently remarked that this road-making 
was also intimately connected with the cultivation of land. 
It may, however, be shewn, that as the Greek aypo? be- 
comes rj/ubepos when divided by a road, by a similar pro- 
cess the Latin ager becomes jugerum = di-ager-um. 

Whenever a piece of unemployed ground — of ager, so 
called — was to be taken into use, whether for cultivation, 
or for the site of a city or a camp, the rules of the ancient 
limitatio were immediately applied. Now this very word 
limitatio signifies, the dividing of a certain j)iece of ground 
into main-roads {vice) and cross-roads (limites); and the 
same primary notion is conveyed by tern-plum, so obviously 
derived from tem-no, Gr. rd/i-va), comp. reixevos, &c. For 
in all limitation the first thing done was to observe the 
templum, i. e., as we should say, to take the bearing by 
the compass. 2 Suppose the augur stood with his back to 
the north, then the line from north to south would be 

1 The word ijireipos — r/ Siairepav x^P a > furnishes another instance of the 
substitution of ?j for did: comp. the epithet Siairpvaios, Pind. N. iv. 51, where 
see the note. 

2 Most ancient nations seem to have connected the regiones cceli with the 
regiones viarum. Thus in old English " the milky way" was called " Wat- 
ling-street," which was the name of one of the four great roads in this coun- 
try; see Grimm, Deutsche Myth. p. 330, 2d ed. 



§ 6.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 221 

called the cardo, as corresponding to the axis of the globe ; 
and that from east to west, which cut the cardo at right 
angles, would be called the decumanus, or " tenth line." 
For both these lines repeated themselves according to the 
number of separate allotments into which the land was 
divided, or the number of separate streets in the city or 
camp. 1 Now the Roman actus or fundus =[120 feet] 2 
was the unit of subdivision ; two of these fundi made a 
jugerum =di-ager-um, and two jug era constituted the he- 
redium of a Roman patrician; consequently, 200 jugera 
made up the ager limitatus of a century of the old Roman 
populus (Fest. s. v. Centuriatus, p. 53). If this ager limi- 
tatus, then, were arranged as a square, we have, of course, 
for each side 20 X 120 feet. Supposing, then, a road be- 
tween each two of t\ie fundi, — which there must have been, 
as every two fundi made a di-ager-um, — the cardo which 
passed between the tenth and eleventh fundus would be 
properly called the decumanus, and it would consequently 
be the main road, and would be terminated by the main 
gate {porta decumana). The point at which the decuma- 
nus crossed the cardo was called groma or gruma; and 
here, in a city or camp, the two cross-roads seem to have 
spread themselves out into a kind of forum. There is as 
much probability in the supposition that the immortal 
name of Rome was derived from this ancient word, as 

1 It would seem that the word sicilicus (from seco) was properly and 
originally applied to this apportionment of land. In the Bantine Table 
(1. 25) we have nep him prukipid mats zicolois x nesimois; which I have 
translated (above, p. 97), ne in hoc prcp.hibeat (i.e. prcebeaf) magis sicilicis 
x contiguis. According to Klenze (Abhandl. p. 50) x nesimois = decimis ; 
but I cannot understand why we should have an ordinal here. The root of 
ne-simus appears in nahe, near, next, &c. ; and I would understand it of so 
many adjoining allotments. The sicilicus was 600 square feet, i.e. -fa of the 
jugerum, or ^ of the actus. Consequently, the 30 contiguous sicilici men- 
tioned in 1. 17 would be f of the jugerum, or % of the actus ; and the 10 con- 
tiguous sicilici would, therefore, be ^ of the former and T \ of the latter. 



222 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Ch. VII. 

there is in any of the numerous etymologies suggested by 
Festus (p. 266). From this it appears, that among the 
Romans it was the same thing to speak of a territory as 
divided by roads, and to call it cultivated, occupied, or 
built upon; and the ' jugerum, or divided ager, implied 
both. To the same principle we may refer the import- 
ance attached by the ancients to straight ploughing; 1 for 
the furrow was the first element of the road ; and the urbs 
itself was only that space round which the plough had 
been formally and solemnly drawn. 

The Romans were very sparing in their use of the 
Greek letter k. It was occasionally employed to form 
the syllable ka, as in kaput, kalumnia, Karthago, evokatus, 
Parkarum; but in these instances it was considered quite 
superfluous; and Quinctilian thinks (i. 4, 9, and 7, 10) 
that its use ought to be restricted to those cases in which 
it serves as the conventional mark of an abbreviation, as 
in K. =Kceso, and K. or Kal. =Kalendce. 

The letter y was never used by the Romans except 
as the transcription of v in words derived either from or 
through the Greek; and it seems to have been a repre- 
sentative of those sounds which have been designated above 
by the characters u x and u 3 , both of which involve an ap- 
proximation to the sound of i. Hence, in the French 
alphabet it is not improperly called " the Greek i" (i 
grec). In many words, rather connected with the Greek 
than derived from it, the v is represented by I, as in cliens, 
in-clitus (k\vg>), clipeus (KpvTTTco), silva (yXFr]), &c. ; while 
in others the v has become e, as in socer {eKvpoi), remulco 
(pvfiov\/cia)), polenta {iraXwrrj), &c. The Roman u 2 some- 

1 See Hesiod. Op. et D. 443 : 

'6s it epyov fxeXeTcov lde?a.v av\ait ihawoi, 
/u?jK6Tt iraTrraivctiv /j.e6' 6fj.r}\iKas. 

Luke ix. G2 ; and comp. the tropical use of delirare. 



The numeral 
signs. 



§ 7.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 223 

times represents the common v of the Greeks, as in lupus 
(\vkos), nunc (vvv), fui {<j>vco), See. ; sometimes the Greek 
o, as in all nouns of the o-declension. 



NUMERALS. 

This examination of the Latin alphabet will not be § 7. 

complete without some remarks on the signs which were 
used by the Romans to denote the numeral adjectives. 
Priscian, in his usual school-boy way, has endeavoured to 
establish the connexion between the numeral signs as we 
have them, and the ordinary Roman capitals. Thus, quin- 
que, he tells us, is represented by V, because this is the 
fifth vowel ; quinquaglnta is L, because, etymologically, 
L and N may be interchanged, and N is Trevrtf/covTa in 
Greek ; quingenta is D, because this is the next letter to 
C! — and so forth (Priscian, ii. p. 388, ed. Krehl). 

Now there can be no doubt that the Roman numeral 
signs are derived from the Tuscans ; though in certain 
cases a Roman capital has been substituted for an Etrus- 
can character which does not correspond to it in value, 
and though in these instances the figures are either in- 
clined or reversed. The Etruscan characters are as fol- 
lows : — 

I, II, III, IIII, A, AI, All, AIII, IX, X, &c. 

I, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. 

XX, XXX, XXXX or XT, T, TX, &c. 

20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 

®, 8, £), ®, &c. 

100, 1000, 5000, 10000. 

It is sufficiently obvious that the first ten of these 
characters are identical with the Roman figures, the A, &c. 
being reversed ; and as T is often written T, and as vL» 
X, frequently occur on Roman family coins, we may 



224 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Ch. VII. 

recognise in this character the original of the Roman L, 
and therefore identify the Etruscan and Roman ciphers 
from 1 to 99. The Roman C and the Etruscan © do not 
appear to be connected; but the Etruscan 8, or, as it is 
also written ®> is clearly the same as the Roman £> ©> 
and do, for which M was subsequently written ; and the 
same remark applies to the still higher numbers. 

If, then, the Roman ciphers were derived from the 
Tuscans, it is obvious that we must seek in the Tuscan 
language for an interpretation. Now it cannot be doubted 
that the Tuscan numeral signs are either letters of the al- 
phabet slightly changed, or combinations of such characters 
made according to fixed rules. Thus, A is the inverted V 
=u; T or T is an inverted \!/ =ch; and 8=/. Since, 
therefore, the position of these letters in the organic alpha- 
bet does not correspond to their value as numeral signs, we 
must conclude that they represent the initials of the nume- 
rals in the Etruscan, just as M afterwards denoted mille 
in the Latin language. "We do not know any Etruscan 
numeral, and therefore cannot pretend to any certainty on 
this subject ; but this is the most probable inference. The 
manner in which the elementary signs are combined to form 
the intermediate numerals is more easily and safely investi- 
gated. The character denoting unity is perhaps selected 
from its simplicity ; it is the natural and obvious score in 
every country. This character is combined with itself to 
form the next three digits, though four is sometimes ex- 
pressed as 5 — 1, according to the principle of subtraction 
so common among the Romans (comp. duodeviginti, &c). 
The same plan is adopted to form the numerals between 
5 and 10. The number 10 is represented by a combina- 
tion of two V's — thus, X; and this figure enclosed in a 
circle indicates the multiplication of 10 by itself, or 100. 
The letter 8, or ©, being assumed as the representative of 
1000, its half, or D, would indicate 500 ; and as multipli- 



§ 7.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 225 

cation by ten was indicated by a circle in the case of 100, 
on the same principle (^Jj) would be 10,000, and its half or 
J^) would represent 5000. 

These rules for the formation of one numeral from 
another are more obvious than the origin of the elementary 
numeral signs. But where certainty is not within our 
reach, we must be contented with a solution of those diffi- 
culties which may be submitted with safety to the search- 
ing analysis of philology. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 



§ 1. Completeness of the Latin case-system. § 2. General scheme of the 
case -endings. § 3. Latin declensions. § 4. Hypothetical forms of the 
nominative and accusative plural. § 5. Existing forms — the genitive and 
dative. § 6. The accusative and ablative. § 7. The vocative and the 
neuter forms. § 8. Adverbs considered as cases of nouns. 

§ 1. The system of cases, with which the Latin noun is fur- 

ofthe Latin SS nished, is far more complete than that of the Greek declen- 
case-system. s i n. The Greek noun has no ablative case ; its accusative 
has frequently lost its characteristic termination ; the geni- 
tive is confused by the mixture of an ablative meaning; 
and the locative is almost lost. The greater number and 
distinctness of the Latin cases is due to the greater anti- 
quity of the language, which had not yet begun to substi- 
tute prepositions for inflexions. As the language degene- 
rates into the so-called Romance idioms, we find that its 
cases are gradually lost, and their place taken by a number 
of prefixes, which add indeed to the syntactical distinctness 
of the language, but purchase this advantage by sacrificing 
the etymological development. 

In treating of the Latin cases, our attention is directed 
to three different aspects under which they may be consi- 
dered. We may regard them either according to a general 
scheme derived from all the declensions, or as modified by 
those varieties in the termination of the crude form which 
constitute differences of declension ; or we may take both 
of these together, and add to them those additional phe- 
nomena which are furnished b}^ the adverb. A supple- 



§3.] THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 22 i 

mentary source of information respecting the cases may be 
derived from those nouns, whether substantive or adjective, 
which are obviously formed from the oblique cases of other 
nouns. Thus, we know that the original Greek genitive 
ended in -aco (Sanscr. sya) from the form of the possessive 
adjective Stj/jloctios (Bopp, Vergl. Gramm. p. 294, note), and 
the genitive jjlcq is presumed in the old possessive /ieo9 (see 
N. Crat. p. 164). Similarly, a case in -me, analogous to 
the Sanscrit instrumental, may be inferred both from the 
particle sine and from the derivative forms urbdnus (=ur- 
bainus), Sec, and officina (= qfficiina) , &c. 

If we confine ourselves to the forms of the noun, we § 2. 

get the following general scheme of the case-endings. o^the case-end- 

ings. 
Sing. Plur. 

Nom. S (sometimes absorbed, assimilated, \s~\es (variously modified) 
or dropt by visargah) 

Gen. is, jus, sis [f\um 

Dat. i or bi ( the b is preserved only in \b]tlS=is 

the pronouns) 
ACCUS. m Ms ( the singular m con- 

stantly absorbed) 

Abl. d[d~\ (the d is found only in old Latin) [b]us=is. 

By taking the different crude forms according to the § 3. 

usual classification, we shall at once see how this scheme is 



sions. 



modified and applied. 

CONSONANT-DECLENSION. 
Sing. Plur. 

Nom. lapi[d~\s lapid-ls^-es (= e*s) 

Gen. lapid-is lapide-rum 1 

Dat. lapid-i-\bi~\ (=t) lapid-i-bus 

Accus. lapid-e-m lapid-e\m~\s (==Ss) 

Abl. lapid-e[d~\ lapid-i-bus 

1 Chavisius, i. 40. 



228 



THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 



[Ch. VIII. 



VOWEL-DECLENSIONS. 



Sing. Plur. 

Norn. familia-\s~\ familia-[ses~\ (= ai, es) 

Gen. familia-is (= as, ai, ce) familia-rum 

Dat. familia-[b]i (=ee) familia-bus (=is) 1 

Accus. familia-m familia-\_m~\s (=ds) 

Abl. familia-\d~\ (=«) familia-bus 



E 





Sing. 




Plur. 


Nom. 


dies 




die-[se~]s 


Gen. 


die-i[s] 




die-rum 


Dat. 


die-\b~\i 




die-bus 


Accus. 


die-\pi\ 




die-\m\s 


Abl, 


die-\d~\ 




die-bus 




Sing. 


I 


Plur. 


Nom. 


avi-s 




avi-\_se\s {= (is) 


Gen. 


avi-is (= 


avyis, avis) 


avi-\r~\um 


Dat, 


avi-\b~\ i (: 


= avi) 


avi-bus 


Accus 


m;i-ra (= 


em) 


avi-\_m~\s (= es) 


Abl. 


owi-[d] 




avi-bus 



o 

Sing. Plur. 

Nom. avo-S avo-ses (==avi, as in gen. sing.) 

Gen. avo-is (or sus or syo, avo-rum 

= io, =i) 2 

Dat. avo-[b]i (= d) avo-bus (= is) 

Accus. owo-m az?o-[»ra]s (=05) 

Abl. <m;o-[<^] avo-bus (=is) 



1 For the form in -bus comp. Orelli, Inscr. no. 1628, 1629, 4601, &c, and 
K. L. Schneider, Formenlehre, i. p. 25, sqq. 

2 As Stj^oVio, drifj.6io, Stj/xou, comp. the nom. plural. 



§ 4.] THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 229 

u 

Sing. Plur. 

Noin. fructus fructu-ses (=us) 

Gen. fructu-is (=ils) fructu-\r~\um 

Dat. fructu-\b~\i (=u) fructu-bus 

Accus. fructu-m fructu-\m\s (=iis) 

Abl. fructu-[d] fructu-bus. 

If now we compare these particular instances with the § 4. 

general scheme, we shall see that, taking all the varieties foj^o^f 

of the crude form, of which the above are specimens, there nominative and 
. accusative plu- 

are only two assumptions m the general table, — namely, ra i. 

the original forms of the nominative and accusative plural. 
All the others are actually found, either in nouns or pro- 
nouns, at some epoch of the language. 

With regard to the nominative and accusative plural, 
the assumed original forms are derived from a sound in- 
duction according to the principles of comparative phi- 
lology. 

And first with regard to the nominative plural. The 
sign of this case must have been originally -s throughout 
the declensions. Now it appears from general considera- 
tions, as well as from an induction of facts, that -s was also 
the sign of the nominative singular (New Cratylus, p. 317). 
Therefore the -s of the nominative plural, if it was to dis- 
tinguish the form from the same case in the singular, can- 
not have been appended to the mere crude form of the 
noun; for then the nominatives singular and plural would 
have been one and the same inflexion. It must have been 
formed by adding the -s (with, of course, an intervening 
short vowel, for the Latin language does not tolerate a 
double-.? at the end of a word) to the full form of the 
nominative, and thus constituting, as the total addition to 
the crude form, or the real termination, the syllable -ses. 
This view is supported, not only by the fact that the 



230 THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. [Ch. VIII. 

plurals vo-bis, era-mus, &c, actually stand in this relation 
to the singulars ti-bi, era-m, &c., but even more so by the 
analogy of the genitive singular. For in many cases the 
genitive singular is identical, in its secondary form, with 
the nominative plural : thus families, avi, are the common 
forms of both cases. But families is actually written femd- 
lids=familiaes. Hence we may presume the same origi- 
nal form of the nominative plural families (compare dies, 
&c). Now the original form of the nom. singular must 
have been familia-s ; consequently, if, when the nom. sing, 
was familia, the nom. plur. was familia-es = families, it 
follows that when the nom. sing, was familia-s, the nom. 
plur. must have been familia-ses. The same follows from 
the form avi. I have preferred to treat the original form 
of the nominative plural as an assumption, and to support 
it by the arguments which I have just adduced ; but if we 
remember that the original s of many Roman words was 
not changed into r till about the 4th century a.u.c. (above, 
Ch. VII. § 3), we might take the existence of such forms 
as vi-res, spe-res (which occurs in fragments of Ennius), and 
gnaru-res (which is found in Plautus, Mostellaria, i. 2, 17; 
Pamulus, prol. 47), as a distinct confirmation of the theory. 
And here again the analogy of the genitive becomes appli- 
cable, as will be seen below (§ 5). The pronouns also 
supply a partial confirmation of the above induction ; for 
though in common Latin we find a genitive singular in -s 
by the side of a nominative plural in -i, we learn from old 
inscriptions that there was also a nominative plural in -s : 
see Senatus-Cons. de Bacch. 11. 3, 7; Lex Rom. Bant. Tab. 
1. 21 ; Klenze ad Leg. Servil. p. 12. 

Again, in regard to the accusative plural, which in all 
the above instances ends in -s preceded by a long vowel, 
we must infer that -s is the termination of the plural as 
such, from considerations of the same nature with those 
which have been just brought forward. We should also 



§ 5.] THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 231 

have no difficulty in supposing that the long vowel indi- 
cates the absorption of some consonant. This consonant 
can only be the -m of the accusative singular ; for not only 
is this most probable a priori, but it is the only supposi- 
tion which explains all the phenomena. Let us take the 
Greek, Latin, Sanscrit, and Gothic forms in a particular 
word ; and we shall see that, while the Gothic alone pre- 
serves the outward marks of such a derivation of the accu- 
sative plural from the accusative singular, the only possible 
explanation of the other forms is the supposition that they 
were originally identical with the Gothic. Thus, \vko-v, 
lupu-m, vrika-m, vulfa-n, are the accusatives singular of 
synonymous words in these four languages. The plural of 
the Gothic vulfa-n is simply vulfa-n-s, whereas all the other 
forms strengthen the final vowel of the crude form, and 
drop one of the concluding consonants : \vkov becomes 
Xv/covs, lupum is converted into lupos, and vriham into 
vrikdn. The comparison of oSovs, &c. with dens, &c. 
shews us that Xvkov? may stand for \vkovs ; and the ana- 
logy of tv7ttq)v = rv'7rTov[T]$ is sufficient to explain the 
change of vrikans into vrikdn. If we add to this, that 
when the accusative singular has lost its final consonant, 
the plural accusative merely adds -s to the existing form 
of the singular (as in av$pa[y], TvirTOVTa\y], sing., avSpa-s, 
TvirrovTa-s, plural), we have, it should seem, the most 
satisfactory evidence which the subject admits, in support 
of the assumed original form of the accusative plural. 

Having thus justified the only hypothetical forms in 
the above scheme of cases, it will be desirable to make 
some remarks on the most striking peculiarities in the 
existing inflexions. 

In the general scheme, the genitive singular is charac- § 5. 

terised by the terminations -is, -sis, or -jus,- the gen. plural 5hegenSive S 
by the ending -rum, where the r is generally dropt, ex- and dative - 



232 THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. [Ch. VIII. 

cept in the a, e, and o declensions, which constantly retain 
it. The difficulty here felt is, to connect the plural form 
with the singular. Struve's assertion (iiber die Lat. Decl. 
3, 15), that the r is merely euphonic, would tend, if we 
assented to it, to complicate and increase this difficulty in 
no small degree. The comparative philologer cannot doubt 
that the original form of the genitive plural in the Indo- 
Germanic languages was that which is preserved in the 
Sanscrit -sdm = 2flM (see Miiller ad Varron. L. L. viii. 
§ 74, p. 192). This form, after the fourth century a.u. c, 
would appear in Latin as rom, which was afterwards soft- 
ened into rum. The Indians wrote -nam for -sdm in many 
of their words, where the n represents the s, as in vrikdn 
for vrikds =vnkdm-s ; but in the pronouns, which gene- 
rally preserve the authentic forms longer than the nouns, 
we have td-sdm=istd-rum. The Greeks very often omit- 
ted an a- between two vowels in a case like this ; and as 
they wrote iXiyov for iXeyeao, i/^#i;-e9 for X^Qva-es, so 
they gave us BrjfiOLo, or ultimately Srjfiov, for the original 
Bij/xoaco, and fiovad-wv, or ultimately [xovawv, for jxovcrd- 
crcov. That -rum is the proper and genuine form of the 
Latin genitive is proved not merely by the fact that the 
Romans actually wrote -um for -orum when it suited their 
convenience, 1 thereby shewing the reason for the omission 
of the r in the other declensions, but also by the fact that 
the r is found in the pronouns, the oldest and most immut- 
able parts of speech, and that in the older state of the lan- 
guage even nouns of the other declensions retained the r : 
thus we hear of such words as boverum, Joverum (Varro, 
L. L. viii. § 74), lapiderum, nucerum, regerum (Cn. Gellius 
a/pud Charisium, i. 40). This evidence receives very strik- 
ing confirmation from the analogy of the genitive singular. 
The most common characteristic of the genitive singular 

1 On this abbreviation, see Cicero's remarks in Orator, c. 46, § 155. 



§ 5.] THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 233 

is the termination -is. There are two reasons, however, 
which may induce us to doubt if this is the full and ori- 
ginal form of the genitive-ending. First : the genitive- 
ending of the pronouns and oldest adjectives is not -is, hut 
-ius : thus we have cu-ius or quo-ius, ist-ius, un-ius, alter- 
ius, &C. 1 Secondly : the possessive adjectives, which so 
often give us the true form of the genitive, end in -ius ; as 
<prcetor-ius, or, what is the same thing, in -eus, as virgin-eus. 
It seems, however, that even this does not carry us back to 
the full and genuine type of the termination. The Sanscrit 
vrika-sya compared with \vkoio, and the possessive Stj/ao- 

1 The personal pronouns ego, nos, and tu, vos, and the reflexive pronoun 
se, have properly speaking no genitive case. They express this relation by the 
derived or possessive pronouns meits, noster; tuus, vester; and suus. Some- 
times these forms are regularly inflected through the cases, genders, and 
numbers, like other adjectives, and sometimes they are used as neuter nouns 
in the genitive singular. When the personality implied is emphatic, the latter 
is the proper usage ; as in Ovid, Heroid. &iii. 166 : Si tibi cura mei, sit till 
cura tui. Cic. ad Fam. xii. 17: Grata mihi vehementer est memoria nostri 
tua. Catil. iv. 9 : Habetis ducem memorem vestri, oblitum sui. More ge- 
nerally, however, the genitive relation is expressed by the inflected possessive : 
as peiitio mea; amicus Me tuus ; Cicero noster ; &c. And even in apposi- 
tion with a genitive, as in Horat. i. Serm. iv. 23 : Mea scripta recitare ti- 
mentis; or in opposition to one, as Ovid, Heroid. via. 134: Parsque tui lateat 
corpore clausa meo. By a singular attraction, the genitive plural of the pos- 
sessive is in certain cases used where we should expect the genitive plural of 
the personal pronoun. Zumpt supposes that nostrum, vestrum, are used 
when the subject is signifled ; nostri, vestri, when the genitive denotes the 
object. When omnium precedes, nostrum, vestrum, are always preferred to 
nostri, vestri ; as Cic. Cat. i. 7 : Patria est communis omnium nostrum pa- 
rens. But we may have the inflected possessive before omnium; as in Cic. 
Cat. iv. 2 : Hi ad vestram omnium ccedem Romce restiterunt. The imper- 
sonal verbs interest and refert not only employ these possessives as regular 
genitives, but also as inflected in the dative singular feminine to agree with 
rei, which is understood in interest and included in refert — rei fert. We 
have, however, in this use the forms mea, sua, &c, for mece, suce, &c, on the 
analogy of post-hac for post-hcec, &c. That the case is dative is proved not 
only by the competent testimony of Verrius (apud Fest. p. 282 ; see Midler, 
Suppl. Annot. p. 405), but also by many similar constructions. In Cato, 
R. R. c. 3, we have : et rei et virtuti et gloria erit. 



234 THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. [Ch. VIII. 

0Y09 by the side of 8r}/j,6-io, might lead us to suspect that 
the termination commenced with an s, which was subse- 
quently absorbed ; and this suspicion is confirmed by the 
fact, that there are in old Latin genitives ending in -ris — 
-sis where the r = s is not part of the crude form. Thus 
we have sue-ris for suis in the fragment of Plautus quoted 
by Festus, s. v. Spetile, p. 330 : " Esto pernam, sumen 
sueris, spetile, callum, glandia." Compare Varro, L. L. v. 
§ 110, p. 44. And from the extant forms of the nomina- 
tive plural in -res we may fairly infer that the genitive in 
-ris was not uncommon. Thus we have a perfect analogy 
between the genitives singular and plural ; and the long 
vowel in the termination of the latter will be explained in 
the same way as the long vowel of the accusative plural : 
comp. the Sanscrit dual -bhyam with the plural -bhyas or 
-bids. 

With regard to the datwe singular, I need only refer to 
the Eugubine Tables, which give us, in the Latin writing, 
ovi, vitlu, instead of ufeph, fitlwpli, which appear in the 
corresponding passages of the Umbrian inscriptions. 

§ 6. The accusative and ablative require a more attentive 

andabktive^ consideration than has generally been bestowed upon them. 
The specimens of old Latin in Chap. VI. have sufficiently 
shewn that the characteristic of the Latin ablative was -d, 
or perhaps, at one period of the language, -t. The common 
sign of the accusative is -m. This corresponds strictly to 
the Sanscrit. The Greek language, however, being into- 
lerant of m and d at the end of a word, has changed the -m 
into -v, and softened the -d of the ablative into -?. The 
Greek language therefore affords no assistance to the phi- 
lologer, when he is puzzled and perplexed, as he cannot 
but be, by the interchange and confusion of the locative, 
ablative, genitive, and objective notions, which have attached 
themselves to these two endings, which — being the one a 



§ 6.] THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 235 

labial, the other a dental — cannot have a common origin. 
First of all comes the fact, that in pronouns this dental ter- 
mination, -d or -t, marks the neuter nominative-accusative 
of pronouns as well as the ablative : thus, i-d, illu-d, quo-d, 
&c. are never used as ablatives in common Latin ; me, te, 
se (anciently met, tet, set, or med, ted, sed; ego-met, me-met, 
ted-ipsum, &c), were both ablatives and accusatives ; sed, 
which seems to be an ablative in its use as a conjunction, 
is an accusative in the Senat.-Cons. de Bacch. (11. 13, 14.) 
Then, again, the termination -m is a regular locative in 
pronominal particles, such as enim, jam, &c. And the 
plural form used for the ablative is the same as the dative, 
-bus from -hi, which is a pure locative. Then, again, -i-na 
is the instrumental ending in Sanscrit ; and se (=sed) is 
synonymous with si-ne in old Latin (above, Ch. VI. § 16). 
The form in -na or -ma in Sanscrit generally marks the 
instrumental case ; but in the Italian languages ne seems 
to have indicated the locative case. Thus we have pone 
for postne, whence pus-naies in Umbrian ; and the ethnical 
names Romanus, &c. seem to be derived from locatives. 
The Sanscrit neuter plural in -ni is probably a locative of 
the same kind. These and other difficulties of a similar 
nature are purely metaphysical. The solution of them 
which appears most satisfactory is that which would refer 
this interchange to the ultimate convergence of the ideas 
of location, causality, possession, derivation, &c, in the one 
great consciousness of objectivity. Our instinctive belief in 
an outer world — in something which is not self — assumes 
a number of different forms, according to the relations 
under which the objects present themselves to us : but still 
it is only one idea — the things are there, and as such are 
either located, presented, possessed ; they are causes, in- 
struments, occasions, as the case may be. Why should 8td 
with the genitive signify " an instrument," with the accu- 
sative "an occasion" or "a cause?" Why should vivo 



23b THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. [Ch. VIII. 

with the genitive denote " causation," but with the dative 
mere " locality ?" Why should Kara with the genitive 
imply motion in a vertical line, but Kara with the accusa- 
tive motion in an horizontal line ? These are questions 
which carry us back to the very foundations of all psycho- 
logy ; and it is not the design of the present work to deal 
with such matters. 1 

§ 7. In the above scheme of the case-endings, and in the 

and the neuter examples of the different declensions, I have omitted the 
forms. vocative, because it is either the nominative, or, when it 

exists as such, is merely the crude form of the noun ; and 
I have said nothing of nouns of the neuter gender, because 
the only distinction between these and other nouns con- 
sists in the circumstance that they have no nominative as 
distinct from the accusative 2 (see N. Crat. p. 314). The 
only remark which this part of the subject requires, is one 
connected with the last paragraph. All neuter nouns, to 
whatever declension they belong, form their plural nomi- 
native-accusative in a. By the side of this we may place 
another general observation. All Greek nouns, whatever 
their crude form may be, have a as the termination of their 

1 I have attempted to remove some of these difficulties in the N. Crat. 
(pp. 57 sqq., 157 sqq., 212 sqq., &c). A young Cambridge philologer has 
published a second edition of my remarks, " with corrections," under the 
title of " A First Lesson in Psychology — Remarks upon certain Passages of 
the New Cratylus." The subject will not, I fear, be simplified by the addi- 
tional distinctions which he proposes to introduce. 

2 It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to say that in neuter nouns like genus, 
tempus, robor, &c, the s = r is not a nominative-ending, but the termination 
of the crude form, and consequently that the genitive-ending of these nouns is 
not -ris = sis, but -is. That the s in such words belongs to the crude form is 
clear from the derivatives gener-osus, tempes-tas, robus-tus, &c. The same 
may be said of the corresponding Greek forms in -os; as opos, which in its 
derivatives preserves the -s (as in bpes-flios, &c), though it has lost it in the 
cases opeos for opeaos, the a being omitted, as it is in verbs (iAeyeao = iAeyov) 
and nouns (Sr)jx6'io for 5tj fx6(rio). 



§ 7.] THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 237 

accusative singular, when the regular -v is omitted: thus 
we have dvSpd for dvhpa-v, and rinrrovTa for TinrrovTa-v. 
These two phenomena put together would lead us to the 
conclusion, that the plural nominative-accusative of Latin 
nouns originally terminated in a dental. That this was 
actually the case appears from the Senatus-Consultum de 
Bacch. (1. 24) : quel advorsum ea-d fecisent. Consequently 
there was no real distinction of number in the objective 
cases of neuter nouns ; and this is in harmony with the 
fact, that in Greek such nouns govern a singular verb. 

Three of the pronouns exhibit a deviation from this 
form of the noun. The demonstrative hi-c makes its neuter 
hce-c; and the relative qui, and the interrogative and inde- 
finite quis (with their derivatives), have quce in the neuter 
plural. If we compare the sing. fern, of these pronouns 
(hcec, quce) with the corresponding forms in the other pro- 
nouns (ea, ista, &c), we are induced to believe that the 
former must have been originally ha, qua, which having 
been strengthened by the addition of the other pronominal 
element ce, represented the loss of this, or of its final vowel, 
by a lengthening of the case-vowel. This supposition is 
not affected by the circumstance, that the vowel is equally 
lengthened whether the -c is appended or not ; for there 
are other indubitable instances of the fact that a vowel, 
which has crept in as a modified pronunciation of a con- 
sonant, has taken its place at first by the side of the con- 
sonant which it ultimately supplants. This we know to 
have been the case with the French u considered as a sub- 
stitute for /; for alter was written aultre before it became 
autre; canales appeared as canaulx before the word sub- 
sided into canaux, &c. Moreover there appear to have 
been cases of hi-c in which the -c was written after it 
had ceased to be pronounced : thus Varro has hi-c for hi 
(Z. L. vi. § 73, p. 102), and hce-c for hee (L. L. v. §§ 75, 
98, 137) ; and the latter spelling occurs also in Plautus 



238 THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. [Ch. VIII. 

(Aulul. iii. 5, 59) and Terence {Eun. iii. 5, 34 ; Phorm. 
v. 8, 23). It seems, too, that the termination -ce was 
sometimes represented by a mere lengthening of the vowel 
a without any addition, as in qud-propter ; sometimes the 
termination -c is appended without any additional vowel, 
as in post-hac, advorsus hac. The appearance of the for- 
mer phenomenon in such forms as inter-ed, posl-ed, &c, 
leads to the inference that the plural of is was also some- 
times furnished with this appendix ; and this inference is 
in some measure confirmed by the analogy of post-esa-k in 
the Oscan language (see above, Ch. IV. § 4). 

§ 8. If now we add to the observations derived from the actual 

Adverbs consi- cases f ^g nouns anc ] pronouns, the additional phenomena 

dered as cases l r 

of nouns. furnished by the adverbs, the subject of this chapter will 

have received all the examination of which it is capable. 

Adverbs are, properly speaking, certain cases of pro- 
nouns and nouns, and under particular circumstances they 
are deduced from the participles or supines of verbs. Their 
syntactical use is as secondary predicates, inasmuch as they 
convey predication only through the verb of the sentence. 
The Greeks use their adjectives and participles for this 
purpose without any additional inflexion ; but the Roman 
adverbs are always cases, and sometimes, if one may use 
the expression, double or superimposed cases of nominal 
or pronominal forms. 

Pronominal adverbs are secondary predicates either of 
place or of time. The former indicate — (a) " locality," in 
which case they generally exhibit the locative endings -bi 
and -m : thus, from the demonstrative is and the relative 
qui, we have i-bi and ubi, originally cubi, comp. ali-cubi, 
&c. ; the ending -m appears in us-quam or uspiam, &c. ; — 
(b) " motion towards," in which case they end in -o : as 
ul-tro, " to a place beyond" (see Doderiein, $yn. u. Etym. 
iii. p. 105, sqq.) ; quo, "whither;" eo, "thither," &c. ; 



§ 8.] THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 239 

sometimes -e is appended : thus we have illuc, istuc, by the 
side of Mo, isto ; — (c) "motion from," in which case the 
ending is -nde, or -nee, -nque : thus we have i-nde from is, 
[c]u-nde from qui, aliu-nde from alius, hi-nc from hi-c, 
illi-nc from ille, utri-nque from uter; — (d) " the way," in 
which case we have a feminine ablative in -d agreeing with 
via understood, as qua, ed, &c. 

Pronominal adverbs of time generally end in -m, as 
-turn, quum ; in -nc, -nque, as tu-nc, cu-nque ; or in -ndo, 
-nquam, as qua-ndo, nu-nquam. 

Adverbs derived from nouns adjective and substantive 
either end in e, o, or ter ; or else are merely adjectives in 
the neuter objective case. 

(a) Adverbs in e or o, anciently ending in -ed or -od 
(N. Crat. p. 324), are, in fact, ablative cases of adjectives : 
thus valde, originally validod; bene, originally bonod; cito, 
originally citod; certe or certo, originally certod, &c, are 
the ablative cases of validus, bonus, citus, certus, &c. re- 
spectively. The Greeks had a large class of adverbs of 
the same kind ; but in these the final -d of the ablative 
has been softened down, according to the laws of Hellen- 
ism, into an -? : thus, ovtoos, koXws, &c. represent the old 
forms of the ablative, ovroS, Ka\68, &c, (see N. Crat. 
1. c). There are two cases where this 8- seems still to 
exist, 18-ios and 'AcfypoS-iTTj (Sanscr. Abhrdd-itd) ; and there 
is one instance in which the metre of Homer will not 
allow its modern representative to stand, namely, in those 
passages where e&>9 is a trochee. The Sanscrit td-vat 
compared with reFas might justify the supposition that 
the original form was aFo8 ; while the analogy of XaFos, 
A,eF<0?, vdo<i, veto?, should authorise us to insert, even in 
our Hellenic text of Homer, the emendation aFos for ew? 
(comp. also "H«9, Avoos/'Ews), whenever this particle is a 
trochee. 1 

1 There can be little doubt that ews and re'ws correspond to ydvat and 



240 THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. [Ch. VIII. 

(b) The termination -ter is appended to adjectives of 
the third declension in the same way as ~ - [ [eZ] is affixed 
to adjectives of the first and second declension. Thus, from 
lenis we have leni-ter; from gravis, gravi-ter; fvom felix, fe- 
Uci-ter; from audax, audac-ter; from difficilis, difficul-ter ; 
and so on. The termination is, in fact, the same as that 
in -tus, which is appended to substantives and adjectives 
of the second declension : thus we have cceli-tus, fundi-tus, 
radici-tus, antiqui-tus, divini-tus, humani-tus, &c. This 
last, which is obviously the older form, answers to the 
Sanscrit -tas, -thas, -das, -dhas, on the one hand, and to 
the Greek -6ev on the other (compare the Greek first per- 
son plural in -jxev with the Latin in -mus). There is yet a 
third form in which it appears, namely, -tim, which is the 
termination of a most interesting class of participial ad- 
verbs ; for I cannot consent to consider any of them as 
strictly formed from nouns ; and though the verbs in all 
cases are not forthcoming, the adverbs themselves prove 
that they must have existed in part at least. Instances of 
this class of adverbs are caterva-tim, carp-tim, grada~tim, 
priva-tim, punc-tim, separa-tim, vica-tim. Compare with 
these the German participial forms in -ingen, and the 
Greek participial adverbs in -vSa, -vBrjv, -Srjv (N, Crat. 
p. 342, sqq.). The most striking result from a proper 
appreciation of the origin of adverbs in -tim, is the expla- 
nation which it supplies for those adverbs in -ter which 
are derived from active participles. The termination of 
the passive participle is already -tus; the adverb, there- 
fore, is a locative case of the participle ; for caterva-tim 
stands to caterva-tus in precisely the same relation as 
par-tim to pars (par[t]s) (N. Crat. pp. 215, 443). Simi- 

idvat respectively. Now as, by the side of \ioos we have XaS6s and Xas, so 
by the side of ews we have Ss (Pind. 0. xi. 51; Aristoph. Lysistr. 173), 
which was also written Fas {Tab. Heracl. 2, 52, p. 207) ; and we may there- 
fore infer the intermediate form aFos = aTo8 = ya-vat. 



§8.] THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 241 

larly, aman-ter, sapien-ter, &c. are cases of the participles 
amans, sapiens, &c. ; for the crude forms of these parti- 
ciples already contain the t. Now, if I am right in con- 
cluding that these terminations, -6ev, -dhas, -ter, -tus, -tim, 
&c. are lengthened forms of that dental which marks the 
ablative of the noun and the objective neuter of the pro- 
noun (iV". Crat. p. 326), most interesting conclusions may 
be drawn from this respecting the origin of the participle 
and of the passive person-endings of the Latin verb : for 
if the dental, which must be added to the noun to form 
the ablative case or adverb, is already included in the 
participle, it follows that the crude form of the participle 
is already an ablative or objective formation. That there 
is no essential distinction between the terminations -tim 
and -ter, and that the former is not restricted to parti- 
ciples of the passive formation, is clear from such forms as 
pede-tentim, &c. In fact, while the -d or -t alone are suf- 
ficient to express the ablative and participial relation (as in 
cupi-dus = cupiens ; the terminations -Sov, -Stjv, by the side 
of -vSov, -vhrjv ; the participle TeTu0oT[-ct)?] by the side of 
TV7TT0VT- ; and the adverbs in -tus by the side of those in 
-nde, both signifying " motion from" = " ablation"), yet 
we must admit that the strengthened form of the active 
participle, which contains the liquid as well as the mute 
dental, is no less ablative than those forms in which the 
mute appears alone ; for there is no less opposition be- 
tween i-bi and i-nde from i-s, than between avro-dt and 
avro-Oev from avro-s. 1 The participle, therefore, is an 

1 In the text I have merely put together some of the analogies suggested 
in my former work. Mr. Garnett, one of the soundest, and, at the same 
time, most original philologers in this country, has arrived at some results 
which are calculated to confirm and extend these views. In a letter to me 
(dated 3d May, 1842) he says : " I flatter myself that I can make it appear 
from a pretty copious induction that the Indo-Germanic present participle is 
formed upon the ablative case of the verbal noun [Sanscrit tupaf], in much 
the same way as the pronoun possessive in Latin, German, &c, is formed 
R 



242 THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. [Oh. VIII. 

ablative or adverbial formation from a verbal root, ex- 
pressing that which comes out of the action of a verb, 
i. e. the manner of it (N. Crat. p. 345) ; and differs only 
from these adverbs, and from the persons of the verb, in 
the circumstance, that it is not an immovable form, but one 
which is capable of regular flexion through the whole sys- 
tem of cases {N. Crat. p. 380). 

Adverbs, used as conjunctions, are such as jam (from 
is), enim (Sanscr. ena), ideo, tamen, igitur, &c. These 
are, in fact, cases of different pronouns. Most of them 
are of obvious origin: ideo (comp. adeo) is equivalent to 
the Greek eirirrihes (=iirl rdSeaiv, Buttmann), and from 
it is derived idoneus = ideoneus = Gr. eVm^eto?. Igitur 
is the case in -tur (=tus, -6ev) from a pronoun which is 
found in Oscan, under the form of esa, the soft Latin g 
representing the sound of s or z. In old Latin its signi- 
fication was i-nde, "out of that" (Festus, p. 105; above, 
Chap. VI. § 7), which is the usual force of the termination 
-tus = dev. 

Some adverbs are merely cases of common nouns, which 
usage has made indeclinable. These appear sometimes as 
conjunctions, and sometimes as prepositions. Instar, gra- 
tia, and ergo, may be compared with hUnv, %dpw, and eveita 
(see N. Crat. p. 350, sqq.). Prope\_(T\ (cf. propin-quus) is 
the ablative of an old adjective, and prop-ter is its case in 
-ter=tus = 0€v. Penes and tenus are forms of the same 
kind as instar, and contain the roots of pen-d-ere, ten-d- 
ere. Clam and palam are locatives of the same nature as 
partim, &c. The former, which was also written calim 

upon the genitive of the personal. If I am not mistaken, this is calculated to 
throw an important light upon the organisation of the Indo-Germanic and 
many other languages." I gladly embrace this opportunity of correcting the 
oversight (in the N. Crat. p. 431) by which I have attributed to Dr. Prichard 
an important philological discovery, which is really due to his reviewer, 
Mr. Garnett {Quarterly Review, lvii. p. 100). 



§ 8.] THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 243 

(Fest. p. 47), contains the root of celo, KXeiTTO), KaXinnw, 
&c. Palam is the same case of an adjective connected 
with palatum, ttvXtj, &c. That it is a noun appears fur- 
ther from the fact, that it is used also with the preposition 
in (in palam =aperte, Gloss. Isid.), like in-cassum; comp. 
pro-palam. The same is the case with coram =co'oram 
(tear o/jLfia) ; comp. co'minus, e minus (e/c %eip6<;). Some- 
times the adverb is merely the crude form of the noun. 
We have examples of this in simul, procul (from similis, 
procilis) ; and the ancients wrote facul (Fest. p. 87) and 
perfacul (id. p. 214) for faculter or facile, and perfacile. 
Again, the full form of the noun is occasionally used as 
an adverb : in the xn. Tables we have nox for noctu 
(above, p. 164); and Virgil (Mn. i. 215; vii. 624) and 
other writers use pars for partim. There is an approxima- 
tion to this usage in the indeclinable Greek 6efii<i (Butt- 
mann, Ausf. Sprachl. i. p. 227). 

To these instances of the adverbial use of nouns may, 
perhaps, be added the phrase by which the Romans de- 
signated the day of the month. Here the locative in -m 
of the day is inserted between the preposition and the 
word which denotes the standard of reckoning. Thus, 
" on the fourth day before the Nones of April," is ex- 
pressed by, ante (diem quartum) Nonas Apriles = quarto 
die ante Nonas Apriles. And this whole expression is 
regarded as one word, which may be dependent on a pre- 
position : thus we may say, ex ante diem iii. Non. Jun. 
usque ad pridie Kal. Septembres, or differre aliquid in ante 
xv. Kal. Novembres. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 

§ 1. The Latin verb generally defective. § 2. The personal inflexions — their 
consistent anomalies. § 3. Doctrine of the Latin tenses. § 4. The sub- 
stantive verbs. § 5. Verbs which may be regarded as parathetic com- 
pounds. § 6. Tenses of the vowel-verbs which are combinations of the 
same kind. § 7. Organic derivation of the tenses in the consonant-verb. 
§ 8. Auxiliary tenses of the passive voice. § 9. The modal distinctions — 
their syntax. § 10. Forms of the infinitive and participle — how con- 
nected in derivation and meaning. § 11. The gerundiwm and gerundivum 
shewn to be active and present. § 12. The participle in -urus. § 13. The 
past tense of the infinitive active. § 14. Differences of conjugation. 

§ 1 . The forms of the Latin verb are meagre and scanty in the 

CTierauv defec- same proportion as the cases of the nouns are multifarious 
tive - and comprehensive. The deficiencies of the one are due 

to the same cause as the copiousness of the other. They 
both spring from the antiquity of the language. An idiom 
which has been long employed in literature will generally 
substitute prepositions for the inflexions of cases, and, by 
the employment of various syntactical devices, increase the 
expressiveness and significance of the verb. It is just in 
these particulars that the dialects formed from the Latin 
differ from their mother-speech, and in the same particu- 
lars they approximate to the syntactical distinctness of the 
Greek. 

THE PERSON-ENDINGS. 
§ 2. The Latin person-endings are, however, on the whole, 

inflexions — l ess mutilated than the corresponding inflexions in the 
their consistent Q ree k verb. This is because the person-endings are, in 

anomalies. _ x _ . 

fact, case-endings of pronouns, by virtue of which every 
form of the finite verb becomes complete in itself (see 



§ 2.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 245 

N. Crat. p. 429), and the case-endings, as has been already 
observed, are more perfect in Latin than in Greek. 

The person-endings of the active verb, as they appear 
in classical Latin, are -m, -s, -t ; -mus, -tis, -nt. But these 
forms are not maintained throughout all the tenses. The 
present indicative has dropt the characteristic -m, except 
in the two cases of sum and inquam. The sign of the 
first person singular is also wanting in the perfect indi- 
cative, and in the futures in -bo and -ro. The second 
person singular is represented by -s in every case but one 
— that of the perfect indicative, which substitutes -s-ti. 
The third singular is always -t; the first plural always 
-mus; the second plural always -tis, except in the perfect 
indicative, when it is -s-tis, to correspond with the singular 
of the same person; and the third plural is always -nt, 
though this is occasionally dropt in the third person plural 
of the perfect indicative, which, like the second persons, in- 
serts an additional r= s (below, p. 264). If we may judge 
from the -to, -tote of the imperative, these person-endings 
must have been originally ablative or causative inflexions of 
the pronouns. The original form of the imperative suffix 
in the singular number was -tod or -tud, which is unequi- 
vocally an ablative inflexion (above, Chap. VIII. § 6). 

The person-endings of the passive verb present some 
difficulties to the inquiring philologist. In fact, only the 
third person, singular and plural, seems to have been pre- 
served free from mutilation or suppression. The termina- 
tions of the passive should, according to the rules of sound 
philology, present themselves as inflexions or cases of the 
active person-endings. If, then, we compare the active 
amat, amant, amare, with the corresponding passive forms, 
amatur, amantur, amarier, we must conclude that r, con- 
nected with the active form by a short vowel, e or u , is 
the sign of the passive voice, and that this amounts to 
an inflexion of the active form analogous to the adverbs 



24G THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [Ch. IX. 

in -ter (hni-ter, gnavi-ter, &c), -tus {cceli-tus, &c), or 
-tim (grada-tim., &c). According to tliis, the first persons 
amor and amamur are contractions of amomer, amamuser, 
according to the Sanscrit analogy (comp. bharS with <f)i- 
pofjbai, &c. N. Crat. pp. 436, 445). The second persons, 
amaris (amare) and cmcmini, are altogether different forms ; 
they seem to be two verbals, or participial nouns, of the 
same kind respectively as the Latin and Greek active 
infinitives, amare = amuse (compare dic-sisse, esse, Gr. 
yeXai?, vyjrois, &c), and rvirTe-^evai, which are, in fact, 
locative cases of passive participles. The verbal, which 
stands for the second person singular of the passive verb, 
was probably, in the first instance, a participle in -sus ; 
compare versus y. cursus, &c. That which represents the 
second person plural is the plural of a form which is of 
very frequent occurrence in the Latin language {N. Crat. 
p. 495). The older form ended in -minor, and is preserved 
in the imperative, which in old Latin had a corresponding- 
second person singular in -mino : thus we have antestamino 
{Legg. xn. Tab. i. Fr. 1, above, Ch. VI. § 7), f amino (Fest. 
p. 87), prcef amino (Cat. R. R. 135, 140), fruimino (Inscr. 
Grut.), for antestare,fdre, prcsfare, fruere ; as well as arbi- 
traminor (Plaut. Epid. v. 2, 30) and progrediminor (id. 
Pseud, iii. 2, 70) for arbitramini and progredimini. The 
use of these verbals, with a fixed gender, and without 
any copula, to express passive predications referring to 
the second person, is one of the most singular features 
in the Latin language, and can only be compared to the 
Greek use of the infinitive to express the second person 
imperative. 

THE TENSES. 

& 3. There is, perhaps, no one department of classical phi- 

Doctrine of the } } gry m w hich so little has been done as in the analysis 
Latin tenses. °-> J 

and simplification of the Latin tenses. They are still 

arranged and designated as they were in the beginning; 



§ 3.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VE#fe. 247 

and no one seems to have discerned the glaring errors 
inseparable from such a system. Even among the more 
enlightened, it is not yet agreed whether certain tenses are 
to be referred to the indicative or to the subjunctive mood, 
and forms of entirely different origin are placed together 
in the same category. 

An accurate examination of all the forms in the Latin 
language will convince us that there are only two ways 
in which a tense can be formed from the root of a Latin 
verb. One is, by the addition of s-; the other, by the 
addition of i-. We find the same process in the Greek 
verb ; but there it is regular and systematic, supplying us 
throughout with a complete series of primary and second- 
ary, or definite and indefinite tenses. 1 In Greek, we say 
that the addition of a- to the root forms the aorist and 
future, and the insertion of i- indicates the conjunctive or 
optative mood. Moreover, we have in the Greek verb an 
augment, or syllable prefixed for the purpose of marking 
past time as such, and traces at least of the systematic 
employment of reduplication to designate the continuance 
of an action. As the ancient epic poetry of the Greeks 
neglects the augment, we may understand how it fell into 
desuetude among the Romans. The reduplication too, 

1 For the convenience of the reader, I will repeat here the distinctions 
which I have elsewhere quoted from J. L. Burnouf 's Methode pour etudier 
la Langue Grecque, p. 215, sqq. 



PRIMARY TENSES. 

The Present expresses simultaneity} (je lis 

The Future 
The Perfect 



simultaneity^ rje lis 

. . .. I with reference to \ . 7 . . 
posteriority ^ ^^ ^ he lirai 

anteriority J [j'ai lu. 



SECONDARY TENSES. 



The Imperfect expresses simultaneity ) rje lisais 

with reference ' 



to [ Jl> 
The Aorist . . posteriority |- ^^^me V e lus ' 

The Pluperfect . . . anteriority ) (j'avais lu 3 



1 pendant que vous ecriviez. 2 apres que vous eutes fini d'ecrire. 

3 avant que vous eussiez ecrit. 



248 



tAe theory of the latin verb. 



[Ch. IX. 



though common to all the old Italian languages, is of 
only partial application in the existing forms of the Latin 
verb. With regard to the value of the tenses in a- and 
l-, the same holds to a certain extent in Latin also; but 
while the principle is here susceptible of a double appli- 
cation, it is, on the other hand, interrupted by the opera- 
tion of a system of composite tenses which is peculiar to 
the Latin language. 



§4. 

The substan- 
tive verbs. 



Before I proceed to examine the tense-system of the 
Romans, as it appears in all the complications of an or- 
dinary verb, it will be as well to analyse, in the first 
instance, the substantive verb, which enters so largely into 
all temporal relations. 

The Latin language has two verbs signifying " to be :" 
one contains the root es-, the other the root/w-. 

The inflexions of es- are as follows : — 





INDICATIVE PRESENT. 




ctual form. 


Ancient form. 


Sanscrit 


'sum 


esum 1 


asmi 


es' 


essi 


asi 


es't 


esti 


asti 


'sumus 


esumus . 


smas 


es'tis 


esitis 


sfa 


'sunt 


esunt 

IMPERFECT. 


santi 


eram 


esam 


dsam 


eras 


esas 


dsis 


erat 


esat 


dsit 


eramus 


esamus . 


dsma 


eratis 


esatis 


dstd 


erant 


esant 


dsan. 



Varro, L.L. ix. 100, p. 231. 



§4.] 



THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 



249 



FUTURE or CONJUNCTIVE, 
Formed by the insertion of the guttural element -i. 



Actual forms 




Ancient form. 


Sanscrit. 


ero, 'sim, 


'siSm 


. esydm . 


. sydm 


eris, 'sis, 


'sies . 


. esyds 


. syds 


erit, 'sit, 


'siet . 


. esydt 


. sydt 


erimus, 'simus, 


'siemus 


. esydmus 


. sydma 


eritis, 'sitis, 


'sietis 


. esydtis . 


. sydta 


erunt, 'sint, 


'sient 


. esydnt . 


. syus. 



INDEFINITE or PAST TENSE, 
Formed from this last by the addition of -sa. 



Actual form. 

es-sem . 
es-ses . 
&c. 



Ancient form. 

es-sa-yarn 

es-sa-yas 

Sec. 



INFINITIVE, 

Or locative of a verbal in -sis, expressing the action of the verb. 1 

esse. 



PARTICIPLE. 



Nom. 'sera[£].S (in ab-sens, prce-sens, &c.) originally ese?l[t~\i 



Gen. 'sentis 
&c. 



es, 



esto 
esto 
este, estote 
sunto 



IMPERATIVE. 

originally 



esentis 
&c. 



es, estod 
estod 

esite, esitote 
esunto. 



Throughout the Latin verb we may observe, as in the 
case of ero here, that the element i has vanished from the 



N. Crat. pp. 345, 492. 



250 THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [Ch. IX. 

first person of the future ; for ero does not really differ from 
esum, the present indicative. The explanation of this may 
be derived from the fact, that in English the first and other 
persons of the future belong to different forms : where an 
Englishman says, " I shall" of himself, he addresses an- 
other with " you will ;" and conversely, where he asserts 
of another that " he shall," he tells him, " I will." The 
third person plural erunt, if it is not a mutilation of 
era-font, era-hunt (above, p. 68), is only another way of 
writing erint; u s being substituted, as it so frequently is, 
for i 3 , to which the qualifying i had been ultimately re- 
duced. But besides the form of the future in i, we have 
in old Latin another expression of it in the inchoative 
form esco for es-sco {Legg. xn. Tab. apud Gell. xx. i. 
Tab. t. fr. 3. Lucret. i. 613. Festus, s. v. escit, p. 77; su- 
perescit, p. 302; nee, p. 162; obescet, p. 188; and Muller, 
Suppl. Annot. p. 386). 

The inflexions of the verb fu- are the following : — 

1st tense. 2d tense (si inserted). 3d tense (-i inserted). 

fu\y~\i . . fu\y]e-syam (fueram) . . fuyam (fuam) 
fu[v\i-s-ti fu\y]e-syas (fueras) . . fuyas (fuas) 
fu[v~\it &c. &c. &c. 

fu\y~\imus 
fu\y~\i-s-tis 
fu\y~\e-r-unt 

4th tense (both -sa and -i). 5th tense (sa-sa-i). 

fu\v\e-syam (forem and fuerim) . fii\v\i-sa-sa-im (fuissem) 
&c. &c. &c. &c. 



Participles, foetus an&futurus. Inchoative,/^- 
foi-cundus =fui-scundus ; comp. ira-cundus from ira-scor, 
ju-cundus for juvi-scundus from juvo, vere-cundus for veri- 
scundus from veri-scor, Sec. 

The conjugations of these two verbs furnish us with 



§ 5.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 251 

specimens of verbs inflected through all their tenses with- 
out the aid of any foreign adjunct. But this is not the 
case with the great mass of verbs which constitute the 
staple of the Latin language. Although the flexion-forms 
in s- and i- appear in all these verbs, there is no one of 
them which is not indebted more or less to fu- for its active 
tenses ; and all verbs form some tenses of their passive voice 
by calling in the aid of es-. 

According to the ordinary classification of Latin verbs, 
there are three conjugations of vowel-verbs, in a, e, and i, 
and one conjugation of consonant-verbs, to which the verbs 
in uo belong. Now, as a general rule, we find that all 
vowel- verbs are secondary to nouns — in other words, they 
are derived from the crude forms of nouns. But many 
nouns are demonstrably secondary to consonant-verbs (be- 
low, § 14). Therefore we might infer, as a general rule, 
that the consonant-verb belonged to a class of forms older 
or more original than the vowel-verbs. This view is sup- 
ported by a comparison of the tenses of the two sets of 
verbs: for while we find that s- often effects a primary 
variation in the consonant-verb, we observe that this inser- 
tion never takes place in the vowel-verb except in compo- 
site forms. The only tense in the consonant-verb which 
can be considered as a composite form is the imperfect ; 
but the future does not correspond to this, as is the case in 
the vowel-verbs. Verbs in io partially approximate to the 
consonant-verbs in this respect. 

The next chapter will shew that the most remarkable § 5. 

feature in the pathology of the Latin language is the pre- m ^ be^egard- 
valent tendency to abbreviation by which it is character- ed as parathetic 

. . compounds. 

ised. Among many instances of this, we may especially 
advert to the practice of prefixing the crude form of one 
verb to some complete inflexion of another. Every one 
knows the meaning of such compounds as vide-licet (==vi- 



252 THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [Ch. IX. 

dere licet), sci-licet {==■ scire licet), pate-facio (=patere 
facio), ven-eo (=venum eo, comp. venum-do on the analogy 
of per-eo, per-do), &c. There is a distinct class of verbs 
in -so, which are undoubtedly compounds of the same kind, 
as will appear from an examination of a few instances. 
The verb si-n-o has for its perfect sivi ; and it is obvious 
that the n in the present is only a fulcrum of the same 
nature as that in po-n-o, root pos-; irl-vto, root iti-, &c. 
Now the verbs in -so, to which I refer, such as arcesso, 
capesso, lacesso, qucero, &c, all form their perfect in -sivi. 
We might therefore suppose, a priori, that the termination 
was nothing but the verb sino. But this is rendered almost 
certain by the meaning of arcesso or accerso, which is simply 
accedere sino. 1 Similarly, capesso = caper e sino, facesso = 
facere sino, lacesso = lacere sino, &c. The infinitive of 
in-quam (above, p. 83) does not exist; but there can be 
little doubt that it is involved in quce-ro or quce-so, which 
means " I cause to speak," i. e. " I inquire." 

§ 6. Most of the tenses of the Latin vowel- verb seem to be 

vowel- verbs 6 composite forms of the same kind with those to which I 

which are com- have just referred ; and the complete verbal inflexion, to 

binations of the . J f 

same kind. which the crude form of the particular verb is prefixed, is 

no other than a tense of the verb of existence fu-, Lithuan. 

bu-, Sanscrit bhu- (see Bopp, Vergl. Gram, vierte Abtheil. 

pp. iv. and 804). This verb, as distinguished from es-, 

expresses " beginning of being," or " coming into being," 

like the Greek ylyvofiai. It is therefore well calculated 

to perform the functions of an auxiliary in the relation of 

time. 

1 I am not aware that any other scholar has suggested this explanation. 
Midler (ad Fest. p. 320) thinks that arcesso is the inchoative of arceo — 
accieo : but, in the first place, the reading in Festus is by no means certain 
(Huschke's arce dantur being, I think, an almost necessary correction) ; and, 
secondly, this would leave accerso unexplained. 



§ 6.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 253 

The vowel-verb has a present tense which preserves 
throughout the vowel of the crude form. From this is 
derived, with the addition of the element i, the present 
subjunctive, as it is called; and from that, by the inser- 
tion of s-, the imperfect of the same mood. Thus we have 
amem= ama-im, amarem = amasem = ama-sa-im ; monedm 
=mone-yani, monerem=monesem = mo?iesyam, &c. That 
i was the characteristic of the secondary or dependent mood 
is clear from the old forms du-im (dem), temper-im, ed-im, 
verber-im, car-im, Sec, which, however, are abbreviations 
from du-yam, ed-yam, &c. Comp. sim with the older form 
siem, and SiSoifii, Sec with SiSoltjv, &c. The i is absorbed 
or included in moneam, legam, Sec ; just as we have nav-dlis 
for navi-alis, fin-alis for fini-alis, Sec (Benary, Romische 
Lautlehre, p. 95.) These are the only tenses which are 
formed by pronominal or organic additions to the root of 
the verb. Every other tense of the vowel-verb is a com- 
pound of the crude form of the verb and some tense of fu- 
or bhu-. 

The futures of the vowel-verbs end in -bo, -bis, -bit, 
Sec, with which we may compare fio, jis, jit, &c. The 
imperfect, which must be considered as an indefinite tense 
corresponding to the future, ends in -ebam, -ebas, -ebat, Sec, 
where the initial must be regarded as an augment ; for as 
reg'-ebat is the imperfect of the consonant-verb reg'o, not 
regebat, and as audi-ebat is the imperfect of aud-io, though 
audi-bit was the old future, it is clear that the suffix of 
the imperfect had something which did not belong to the 
crude form, but to the termination itself; it must there- 
fore have been an augment, or the prefix which marks past 
time (see Benary, I. c. p. 29). 

The perfect of the vowel-verbs is terminated by -vi or 
-ui. If we had any doubt as to the origin of this suffix, it 
would be removed by the analogy of pot-ai for pot-fui= 
potis-fui. Accordingly, ama-vi (=ama-ui), mon-ui, audi-vi 



251 THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [Ch. IX. 

(=audi-ui), are simply ama-fui = amare-fui, mo?i-fui = 
monere-fui, and audi-fui = audire-fui. 

Similarly, with regard to the tenses derived from the 
perfect, we find that the terminations repeat all the deri- 
vatives of fui : thus, ama-uero — ama-fuero ; ama-uisses = 
ama-fuisses, &c. 

§ 7. The consonant-verb, on the other hand, forms all its 

tion of the tenses tenses > except the imperfect, 1 by a regular deduction from 
in the conso- its own root. Thus we have reqo fold fut. req-so], 1 aor. 

nant-verb. _ . 

reg-si; conjunct, pres. or precative, regam=regyam, regas 
=regyas, or, in a softer form, reges=rege-is, &c. ; conj. 
imperf. or optat. regerem = regesyam; 2 aor. reg-se-ro = reg- 
se-sim; conjunc. 3 tens. regsissem=reg-si-se-syam. If we 
might draw an inference from the forms facsit, See, which 
we find in old Latin, and from fefahust, Sec, which appear 
in Oscan, we should conclude that the Italian consonant- 
verb originally possessed a complete establishment of defi- 
nite and indefinite tenses, formed from the root by pro- 
nominal or organic addition, or by prefixing augments and 
reduplications after the manner of the genuine Greek and 
Sanscrit verbs. For example's sake, we may suppose the 
following scheme of tenses : root pag, pres. pa-n-go-m, impf. 
e-pangam, fut. pan-g-sim, 1 aor. e-pangsim, perf. pe-pigi-m, 
pl.-perf. pe-pige-sam, conj. pangyam, opt. pangesyam, 2 fut. 
pepige-sim or pangse-sim, past tense (derived from this) pe- 
pigise-syam or pang-si-se-syam. 

§ 8. In the passive voice, those tenses which in the active 

of the passive 69 ^ e P en d upon fui and its derivatives are expressed by the 
passive participle and the tenses of e-sum. The other 
tenses construct the passive by the addition of the letter 

1 The loss of the imperfect, and the substitution of e compound tense, is 
accounted for by the practice of omitting the augment. Without this prefix 
the regular imperfect does not differ from the present. 



voice. 



§ 9.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 255 

r=s to the person-endings of the active forms, with the 
exceptions mentioned before. The second person plural of 
the passive is of such rare occurrence, that we cannot draw 
any decided conclusions respecting it ; but if such a form 
as audi-ebamini occurred, it would certainly occasion some 
difficulty; for one could scarcely understand how the e, 
which seems to be the augment of the auxiliary suffix, 
could appear in this apparently participial form. I am 
not, however, aware that we have any instances of the 
kind ; and ama-bamini is just as good a participle as ama- 
bundus ; compare ama-bi-lis, Sec. 

Nor need we find any stumbling-block in the appendage 
of passive endings to this neuter auxiliary verb. For the 
construction of neuter verbs with a passive affix is common 
enough in Latin (e. g. peccatur, ventum est, &c.) ; and the 
passive infinitive itself furnishes us with an indubitable 
instance of a similar inflexion. We might suppose that 
the Latin future was occasionally formed periphrastically 
with eo as an auxiliary, like the Greek ya \eyow, Fr.fal- 
lois dire, " I was going to say." If so, amatum eo, amatum 
ire, would be the active futures of the indicative and infi- 
nitive, to which the passive forms amatum eor, amatum iri, 
would correspond. The latter of these actually occurs, 
and, indeed, is the only known form of the passive infini- 
tive future. 

THE MOODS. 
Properly speaking, there are only three main distinc- § 9. 

tions of mood in th» forms of the Latin and Greek verb, J^tklns— theh- 
namely, the indicative, the imperative, and the infinitive, syntax. 
The Greek grammars practically assign five distinct moods 
to the regular verb, namely, the indicative, imperative, con- 
junctive, optative, and infinitive. But it has been already 
proved (N. Crat. p. 475, sqq.), that, considered in their 
relation to one another and to the other moods, the Greek 



256 THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [Ch. IX. 

conjunctive and optative must be regarded as differing in 
tense only. The Latin grammarians are contented with 
four moods, namely, the indicative, subjunctive, impera- 
tive, and infinitive ; and according to this arrangement, the 
present subjunctive Latin answers to the Greek conjunc- 
tive, while the imperfect subjunctive Latin finds its equi- 
valent in the optative of the Greek verb : for instance, 
scribo, ut discas corresponds to ypdcfxo, iva fiav6dvrj<;, and 
scripsi, ut disceres to eypayjra, iua fiavddvois. If, however, 
we extend the syntactical comparison a little further, we 
shall perhaps be induced to conclude that there is not 
always the same modal distinction between the Latin in- 
dicative and subjunctive which we find in the opposition 
of the Greek indicative to the conjunctive -f- optative. 
Thus, to take one or two instances, among many which 
might be adduced, one of the first lessons which the Greek 
student has to learn is, to distinguish accurately between 
the four cases of protasis and apodosis, and, among these, 
more especially between the third, in which two optatives 
are used, and the fourth, in which two past tenses of the 
indicative are employed. 1 Now the Latin syntax makes 

1 This is, indeed, a very simple and obvious matter ; but it may be conve- 
nient to some readers, if I subjoin a tabular comparison of the Greek and 
Latin usages in this respect. The classification is borrowed from Buttmann's 
Mittlere Grammatik, § 139 (p. 394, Lachmann's edition, 1833). 

1. Possibility without the expression of uncertainty : 

elf ri %x ei > Si'Swtn (86s) — si quid habet, dat (da). 

2. Uncertainty with the prospect of decision : 

idv ti %%a>ixev, Swao/xev — si quid habeamus, dabimus. 

3. Uncertainty without any such subordinate idea : 

el tl e%o(j, 8i8o'i7]s 'av=si quid habeas, des. 

4. Impossibility, or when we wish to indicate that the thing is not so : 

(a) ei tl e?x ev > eSiSov &v = si quid haberet, daret. 

(b) et ti e<rx ey > eSa/cez' 'dv = si quid habuisset, dedisset. 

The distinction between cases (3) and (4) is also observed in the expression 



§ 9.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 257 

no such distinction between the third and fourth cases, 
only taking care in the fourth case to use past tenses, and 
in the third case, where the hypothesis is possible, to em- 
ploy present tenses of the subjunctive mood. Thus, e. g. 
in the third case : si hoc nunc vociferari velim, me dies, vox, 
latera dejiciant; where we should have in Greek, el tovto 
ev tw Trapavriica yeyaveiv iOeXoi/xc, rjpbkpa^ av fMot /cal 
<pa>vf}<; teal crOivovs ivSerjaeiev. In the fourth case : (a) si 
scirem, dicerem = el ^7ri(rrdfirjv } e\eyov av. (b) si voluissem 
plura, non negasses=el ir\eovcov eiredv^'qcTa, ovk av rjpvrjcrw. 
And this confusion becomes greater still, when, by a rheto- 
rical figure, the impossible is supposed possible ; as in Ter. 
Andr. ii. 1, 10: tu si hie sis, aliter sentias. For in this 
instance the only difference between the two cases, which 
is one of tense, is overlooked. In the apodosis of case 4, b, 
the Romans sometimes used the plusquam-perfectum of the 
indicative, as in Seneca, de Ira, i. 11 : perierat imperium, 
si Fabius tantum ausus esset, quantum ira suadebat; and 
Horace, ii. Carm. 17, 27 : me truncus illapsus cerebro sus- 
tulerat, nisi Faunus ictum dextra levasset. Sometimes the 
perfect was used in this apodosis, as in Juvenal, x. 1 23 : 
Antoni gladios potuit contemnere, si sic omnia dixisset. 
Again, particles of time, like donee, require the subjunc- 
tive when future time is spoken of; as in Hor. i. Fpist. 
20, 10: carus eris Romce, donee te deserat cetas. But this 
becomes a past tense of the indicative when past time is 
referred to ; as in Hor. i. Fpist. 10, 36: cervus equum 
— pellebat — donee \equus~\ imploravit opes hominis frce- 
numque recepit. The confusion between the Latin in- 
dicative and subjunctive is also shewn by the use of the 
subjunctive present as a future indicative (a phenomenon 
equally remarkable in Greek, N. Crat. p. 480), and con- 

of a wish : thus, utinam salvus sis ! pronounces no opinion respecting the 
health of the party addressed ; but utinam salvus esses ! implies that he is 
no longer in good health. 



258 THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [Ch. IX. 

versely by the employment of the periphrastic future (which 
is, after all, the same kind of form as the ordinary compo- 
site form of the future indicative) as an equivalent for a 
tense of the subjunctive mood. Thus Cicero uses dicam 
and dicere instituo in the same construction ; Phil. i. 1 : 
" antequam de republica dicam ea, quae dicenda hoc tempore 
arbitror, exponam breviter consilium profectionis mea3." 
Pro Murena, 1 : " antequam pro L. Murena dicere instituo, 
pro me ipso pauca dicam." And we have always the indi- 
cative in apodosis to the subjunctive when the future in 
-rus is used : e. g. Liv. xxxviii. 47 : " si tribuni prohibe- 
rent, testes citaturus fui" (for " citarem") ; and Cic. Verr. 
iii. 52 : " illi ipsi aratores, qui remanserant, relicturi omnes 
agros erant" (for " reliquissent"), " nisi ad eos Metellus 
Roma literas misisset." The Romans also used the futurum 
exactum, which is generally accounted a tense of the sub- 
junctive, exactly as the Greeks used their perfect indica- 
tive with /cal Br] in suppositions. 

On the whole, it must be confessed that the Latin 
subjunctive, meaning by that term the set of tenses which 
are formed by the insertion of -i-, differs modally from the 
indicative only in this, that it is uniformly employed in 
dependent clauses where the idiom of the language repudi- 
ates the indicative ; and it is not a little remarkable, that in 
almost all these cases — in all, except when final particles 
are used, or when an indirect question follows a past tense 
— the indicative is expressly required in Greek syntax. 
The title subjunctive, therefore, does but partially charac- 
terise the Latin tenses in -i- ; and their right to a separate 
modal classification is scarcely less doubtful than that of the 
Greek optative as distinguished from the conjunctive. 

The differences between the indicative, imperative, and 
infinitive equally exist between the two latter and the sub- 
junctive. The indicative and subjunctive alone possess 
a complete apparatus of person-endings ; the imperative 



§ 10.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 259 

being sometimes merely the crude form of the verb, and 
the infinitive being strictly impersonal. 

He who would investigate accurately the forms of the § 10. 
Latin language must always regard the infinitive as stand- finitive and par- 
ing in intimate connexion with the participles. There are, tlcl P le -~ h° w 
° c r ' connected in 

in fact, three distinct forms of the Latin infinitive : (a) the derivation and 

residuum of an abstraction verbale in -sis, which remains 

uninflected ; (b) a similar verbal in -tus, of which two cases 

are employed ; (c) the participial word in -ndus, which is 

used both as three cases of the infinitive governing the 

object of the verb, and also as an adjective in concord with 

the object. There are also three forms of the participle : 

(a) one in -ns = nts, sometimes lengthened into -ndus ; (f3) 

another in -tus ; and a third (7) in -rus. The participle in 

-ns is always active ; its by-form in -ndus is properly active, 

though it often seems to be passive. The participle in -tus 

is always passive, except when derived from a deponent 

verb, in which case it corresponds in meaning to the Greek 

aorist middle. The participle in -rus, or rather in -u-rus, 

is always active and future. 

Now it is impossible to take an instructive view of these 
forms without considering them together. The participle 
in -rus (7) is a derivative from the verbal in -tus (b) ; and 
it would be difficult to avoid identifying the participle in 
-ndus and the corresponding gerundial infinitive. In the 
following remarks, therefore, I shall presume, what has 
been proved elsewhere, the original identity of the infini- 
tive and the participle. 

That the verbal (a), which acts as the ordinary infinitive 
inre=se, is derived from the crude form of the verb by 
the addition of a pronominal ending si- or sy-, is clear, no 
less from the analogy of the iEolic Greek forms in -t?, 
where the t is transposed (comp. N. Crat. pp. 492 and 496), 
than from the original form of the passive, which is -rier = 



260 



THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 



[Ch. IX. 



-syer, and not merely -rer. This infinitive, therefore, is 
the indeclinable state of a derivative precisely similar to 
the Greek nouns in -at? (irpd^a, pfj-ais, &c), which ex- 
press the action of the verb. This Greek ending in -o-f? 
appears to have been the same in effect as another ending 
in -tv<;, which, however, is of less frequent occurrence {iirr)- 
Tu?, i8r}-Ti><i, 6pxr)<r-Tv<;, &c), but which may be compared 
with the Latin infinitive (b) in -turn, -tu (the supine, as it is 
called), and with the Sanscrit gerund in -tvd. The verbal 
in -tus, which is assumed as the origin of these supines, 
must be carefully distinguished from the passive participle 
(/3) in -tus. For, while the infinitive (b) is formed like the 
infinitive (a) by a suffix belonging to the second pronomi- 
nal element (N. Crat. p. 345), so that the labial (u=v) is 
an essential part of the ending, the participle (/3) has merely 
a dental suffix derived from the third pronominal element, 
and corresponding to the Greek endings in -T09, -vo?, and 
the Latin -tus = nis (formerly -nus). In fact, the suffix of 
infinitive (b) is tv, that of participle (/3) is t- only. 



§11. 

The yerundium 
and gerundi- 
vum shewn to 
be active and 
present. 



The infinitive (c) and the participle (a) are, in fact, 
different, or apparently different, applications of one and 
the same form. In its infinitive use this verbal in -ndus 
is called by two names — the gerundium when it governs 
the object of the verb, and the gerundivum when it agrees 
with the object. Thus, in " consilium capiendi urbem," 
we have a gerundium; in "consilium urbis capiendce" a 
gerundivum. As participles, the ordinary grammatical no- 
menclature most incorrectly distinguishes the form in -ndus 
as " a future passive," from the form -n[t]s considered as 
" a present active." The form in -ndus is never a future, 
and it bears no resemblance to the passive in form. The 
real difficulty is to explain to the student the seeming 
alternation of an active and passive meaning in these forms. 
Perhaps there is no better way of doing this than by di- 



§ II.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 261 

recting attention to the fact, that the difference between 
active and passive really becomes evanescent in the infini- 
tive use of a verb. " He is a man to love" = " he is a 
man to be loved;" " I give you this to eat"=" I give 
you this to be eaten," &C. 1 The Greek active infinitives 
in -[levat, -vac, are really passive forms in their inflected 
use ; 2 and that the Latin forms in -ndus, which seem to 
be passive in their use as gerundiva, are really only se- 
condary forms of the participle in -n[i]s, appears not only 
from etymological considerations (N. Crat. p. 498), but 
also from their use both as active infinitives and active 
participles. When the gerundivum is passive, it generally 
seems to attach to itself the sense of duty or obligation. 
Thus, we should translate delenda est Carthago, " Car- 
thage is to be destroyed" = " we ought to destroy Car- 
thage;" and no one has taken the trouble to inquire whe- 
ther this oportet is really contained in the gerundivum. If 
it is, all attempts at explanation must be unavailing. But 
since it is not necessary to seek in the participial form this 
notion, which may be conveyed by the substantive verb 
(e. g. sapientis est seipsum nosse), it is surely better to 
connect the gerundivum with the gerundium, and to re- 
concile the use of the one with the ordinary force of the 

1 We observe the same fact in the use of the participles in English and 
German. Thus, in Herefordshire, " a good-leapt horse" means " a good- 
leaping horse;" and in German there is no perceptible difference between 
kam geritten and ham reitend. See Mr. Lewis's Glossary of Provincial 
Words used in Herefordshire, p. 58 ; and Grimm, D. Gr. iv. p. 129. 

2 Conversely, the forms in -vr-, which are always active when used in 
concord with a noun, are occasionally employed in that infinitive sense in 
which the differences of voice seem to be neglected. Thus we have, Soph. 
Aj. 579 : 6pT\vtLV iwcedas irpbs TOfiuvti irrjuaTt (" ad vulnus quod secturam 
desideret" s. " secandum sit"). (Ed. Cot. 1219 : Stcw tjs is irAeov ireari tov 
QeAovTos (" quando quis cupiendi satietatem expleverit" s. " id quod cupie- 
bat plene consecutusfuerit"). Thucyd. i. 36 : yvdroo rb fj.ef deSibs avrov — 
robs ivavriovs jxaWop <po^<rov (" sciat timere Mud suum — majorem adver- 
sariis metum incussurum esse"). 



262 THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [Ch. IX. 

other. Supposing, therefore, that da-ndus is a secondary 
form of da-n[t]s, and synonymous with it, on the analogy 
of Acraga[nt]s, Agrige-ntum ; orie-n[t]s, oriu-ndus, &c. ; 
how do we get the phrase da-nda est occasio, " an oppor- 
tunity is to be given," from d-a-ndus = dan[t]s, " giving ?" 
Simply from the gerundial or infinitive use of the parti- 
ciple. Thus, (a) da-ndus = da-n[t]s signifies "giving;" 
(b) this, used as an infinitive, still retains its active signi- 
fication, for ad dandum opes means " for giving riches" = 
" to give riches ;" (c) when this is attracted into the case 
of the object, the sense is not altered, for ad opes dandas 
is precisely equivalent to ad dandum opes ; (d) when, how- 
ever, this attraction appears in the nominative case, the 
error at once takes root, and no one is willing to see that 
it is still merely an attraction from the infinitive or inde- 
clinable use of the participle. Even here, however, the 
intransitive verb enables us to bring back the student to 
a consideration of the real principle. For one can hardly 
fail to see that vivendum est =vivere est i. q. oportet vi- 
vere ; and that there may be no doubt as to the identity 
of the uninfiected with the inflected gerund in this case, 
Horace has put them together in the same sentence: 
" nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero pulsanda tellus," 
where it is obvious that tellus pulsanda est is no less equi- 
valent to " oportet pulsare tellurem," than " bibendum 
est" is to " oportet bibere." At all events, his Greek ori- 
ginal expressed both notions by the infinitive with %prj : 

vvv XRV fieOvtrOriv Kai riva irpbs filav 
iriv-qv, iireiSr) tcdrdape Mvp<ri\os. 

(Alcseus, Fr. 20, p. 575, Bergk.) 

This view of the case appears to me to remove most 
of the difficulties and confusions by which the subject of 
the gerund has hitherto been encumbered. There are two 
supplementary considerations which deserve to be adduced. 
The first is, that in the particular case where the gerun- 



§ 11.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 263 

divum appears to be most emphatically passive — namely, 
when it implies that a thing is given out or commissioned 
to be done — it is found by the side of the active infinitive : 
thus, while we have such phrases as, " Antigonus Eume- 
nem mortuum propinquis sepeliendum tradidit" (Corn. 
Nep. Eum. 13), we have by their side such as, " tristitiam 
et metus tradam protervis in mare Creticum portare ven- 
tis" (Hor. i. Carm. 26, 1). The other case is this; that 
the supines, which are only different cases of one and the 
same verbal, appear as active infinitives when the accusa- 
tive is used (-turn), and as passive when the ablative is 
employed (-tu). Now, this seemingly passive use of the 
supine in -tu arises from the fact, that it appears only by 
the side of adjectives, in which case the active and pas- 
sive forms of the infinitive are often used indifferently, 
and some adjectives take the supine in -tu when they 
expressly require an active infinitive, as in, " difficile est 
dictu (=dicere), quanto opere conciliet homines comitas 
affabilitasque sermonis" (Cic. Off. ii. 14). Now this su- 
pine, which is thus identical with the infinitive active, 
frequently alternates with the gerund ; compare, for in- 
stance, quid est tarn jucundum auditu (Cic. de Or. i. 8), 
with verba ad audiendum jucunda (id. ibid. i. 49). 

But the form in -ndus is not only active in voice, but 
also present in tense. Thus, if we take a deponent verb, 
we often find a form in -ndus acting as a collateral to the 
common form in -n[t]s, and opposed with it to the form 
in -tus. For instance, secundus and sequen[t]s both signify 
" following," but secutus=" having followed." The same 
is the distinction between morien[t]s, moriundus ; orien[t]s, 
oriundus ; irascen[t]s, ira[s\cundus, &c. on the one hand, 
and mortuus, ortus, iratus, &c. on the other. This cannot 
be remarked in active verbs, because the Latin language 
has no active past participle. If, however, we turn to the 
gerundial use of the form in -ndus, we may observe a dis- 



2C4 THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [Ch. IX. 

tinction of tense between it and the participle in -tus even 
in the case of active verbs. Thus volvendus is really a 
present tense in Virgil, JEneid. ix. 7: volvenda dies, en, 
attulit ultro; conip. Ennius (apud Varro, L.L. vii. § 104, 
p. 160, Miiller), and Lucretius, v. 1275; because, in its 
inflected form, it is equivalent in meaning to volvendo. 
And the words of Livy (prcef. ad Hist.) : " quae ante 
conditam condendamve urbem traduntur," can only mean 
" traditions derived from a period when the city was nei- 
ther built nor building." 

§ 12. The participle (7) in -rus or -urus, which always bears 

in ^Jrus. 1C1P ° a future signification, is supported by an analogy in the 
Latin language which has no parallel either in Greek or 
Sanscrit. The Greek desiderative is formed from the 
ordinary future by the insertion of the element i- : thus 
Spd-a, fut. Bpd-aco, desiderative Spa-aeicd. This deside- 
rative is the common future in Sanscrit ; though the Vedas 
have a future, like the Greek, formed by the element s- 
only, without the addition of i-. 1 Now the regular future 
of scribo would be scrip-so, indicated by the aorist scrip-si ; 
but the desiderative is scripturio. We may infer, then, 
that in the loss of the regular future of the Latin verb, 
the desiderative and future participle have been formed 
by the addition of the future r=s and the desiderative 
ri=si, not to the crude form of the verb, but to the 
verbal in -tus. 

§ 13. The past tense of the infinitive active ends in -isse, 

o?the a fnfinUive botn wnen it; corres P ona s to the Greek first aorist, as 

active. scripsisse; when it is the regular perfect, as tetigisse; and 

when it is a composite form, as ama-visse = ama-fuisse. It 

is to be recollected that in all these cases the same tense 

inserts an -s = r in the second person singular and second 

1 See Rosen, on the Rig-VMa Sanhita, p. iv. 



§ 14.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 265 

and third persons plural of the indicative mood. It is not 
improbable, then, that this doubling of the -s of the infi- 
nitive (s-se instead of -se) is to be explained from the 
indicative mood (namely, as fui-s-tis instead of fui-tis, so 
fui-s-se instead of fui-se =fue-re =j bre), and that we have 
in both cases insertions similar to that by which fuissem is 
formed from forem. The supposition, that this additional s 
is designed to represent the lengthening of the penultimate 
syllable of the infinitive, is at least not very plausible. 1 

THE CONJUGATIONS. 
There is not much difficulty in the classification of the § 14. 
Latin verbs according to their conjugation, as it is called. con j U g a tion. 
We have three conjugations of vowel-verbs, in a, e, i, which 
are regularly contracted; and one conjugation of consonant- 
verbs, which retain their inflexions uncontracted. In the 
conjugations u is generally reckoned as a consonant, and 
this is sometimes the case with i. Now it is to be ob- 
served, that, in Latin as well as Greek, the vowel-verbs 
are all secondary or derivative forms, whereas the conso- 
nant-verbs are anterior to the corresponding nouns. The 
reasons for this have been given in the New Cratylus, 
p. 529 ; it will be sufficient in this place to shew that such 
is the case in the Latin language. 

I. NOUNS DERIVED FROM VERBS. 

Nouns of the E-declension are derived from consonant- 
verbs. 

facere .... faci-es 

fidere . • . . Jid-es 

con-spicere . . . species 

Nouns of the u-declension are derived from consonant- 
verbs. 

1 Later forms, like expugnassere, result from a mistaken attempt to follow 
the Greek analogy (see Madvig, Bemerkungen, p. 41). 



266 



THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 



[Ch. IX. 



curi'ere . 


currus 


discedere 


discessus 


gradi (aggredere, &c.) 


gradus 


ludere 


lusus 


vertere 


versus 



Consonant-nouns are derived from consonant-verbs. 
ducere .... dux 
legere .... lex 
pa-n-gere . . . pax 
regere .... rex 



II. VERBS 


DERIVED 


FROM 


NOUNS. 


Verbs in a are derived (a) fr< 


nn nouns in A. 


curare 






cura 


fugare 






fuga 


morari . 






mora 


prcedari . 






prceda 


(b) from nouns in I 


in a causative 


sense. 


celebrare 






Celebris 


ditare 






ditis 


gravare . 






gravis 


levare 






levis 



Here the I of the crude form coalesces with the a, as in 

funalis for funi-alis, navalis for navi-alis, Sec. 



» 


iom nouns in o. 










bellare .... bellum 




donare 






donum 




numerare 






numerus 




populare . 






populus 




probare . 






probus 




regnare . 






regnum 




sanare 






sanus 



§14.] 



THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 



267 



(d) from consonant-nouns. 






fraudare . 






fraus 


generare . 






genus 


laborare . 






labor 


laudare . 






laus 


nominare 






nomen 


onerare . 






onus 


orare 






OS 


vocare 






vox 



This is particularly the case in compounds, as in belli- 
gerare from belliger, which is formed from bellum and 
gerere. And we must not overlook the fact, that nouns in 
a are formed in the same manner from consonant-verbs, 
not only in compounds, like agri-cola, homi-cida, &c, from 
colere, ccedo, &c, but also in simple forms, as ala, " that 
which raises," from alere ; lingua, " that which licks," from 
lingu-ere ; toga, " that which covers," from teg ere, Sec. 

Verbs in e are generally secondary extensions of simple 
roots. Some, like lucere, are derived from consonant- 
nouns. Not a few, like ardere, favere, fulgere, pavere, 
coexist with nouns in -or. The same, however, may be 
remarked of verbs in a : compare amare, amor. 

Verbs in i are mostly derived from nouns of the i- 
declension. Thus we have 

audire . . . - auris=aums 

Jlnire .... finis 



mollire 
vestire 



mollis 
vestis 



But this is by no means universal ; for contracted verbs 
in i are derived from nouns with every variety of crude 
form. Thus we have sepire from sepe; punire faom. poena; 
blandiri from blandus ; moliri from moles; sortiri from 
sors ; &c. 



268 THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [Ch. IX. 

Verbs in E and I sometimes appear as secondary or 
intransitive forms of verbs in a. These seem to be either 
inchoatives in -sco or compounds in -eo (root i). Thus we 
have durare, duresco ; servare, servire ; &c. 

Verbs in u, when this is really vocalised, are sometimes 
derived from nouns in u. Thus we have 

acuere .... acu 
metuere .... metus 



This may be regarded as a singular case ; for no con- 
traction is possible in a derivative verb of this kind. A 
noun of the i-declension occasionally forms a verb in a 
without any absorption of the i; thus we have ab-brevi-are 
from brevis, and al-levi-are, as well as levare, from levis. 



CHAPTER X. 

CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 

§ 1. Genius of the Latin language. § 2. Abbreviations observable in the 
written forms. § 3. Ancient testimonies to the difference between the 
spoken and the written language. § 4. The poetry of the Augustan age 
does not represent the genuine Latin pronunciation; § 5. which is rather 
to be derived from an examination of the comic metres. § 6. The French 
language is the best modem representative of the spoken Latin. § 7. The 
modern Italian not equally so ; and why. § 8. Different dialects of the 
French language. § 9. But all these dialects were closely related to the 
Latin. § 10. Leading distinctions between the Roman and Romance 
idioms. § 11. Importance and value of the Latin language. 

Every language may be considered as an organic body, § 1. 

possessing within itself a principle of vitality, but also lS language. 
capable of disintegration and decay. We may therefore, 
without straining the metaphor, speak of its constitution, 
or power of continuing in a healthy state; and also of its 
pathology, or of the symptoms of that disease to which it 
is by its very nature more peculiarly liable. 

Accordingly, if it were necessary to describe in one sen- 
tence the genius and constitution of the Latin language, 
one could not do this better than by defining it as a lan- 
guage which is always yearning after contraction. Whe- 
ther this tendency is indicated in the written remains by 
the usual processes of synizesis, assimilation, and apocope ; 
whether it appears in the slurring - over of syllables by 
which the scansion of the comic metres is effected ; or whe- 
ther we perceive it in the systematic abbreviations which 
mark the transition from the Roman to the Romance Ian- 



Abbreviations 
observable in 



270 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [Ch. X. 

guages, it is still one and the same, — it is the type of the 
language in its infancy, its maturity, and its decay. 

The most distinct and vivid picture of the Latin lan- 
guage is, therefore, to be derived from a consideration of 
this peculiarity, as developed — 

I. In the written language of ancient Rome. 

II. In the spoken language of ancient Rome, so far as 
we can discern it in the remains of the comedians. 

III. In the modern languages (and particularly in the 
French) which are derived from the Latin. 

I. With regard to the written forms in which the Latin 
language has been handed down to us, it would not, per- 
the written haps, be too large an assertion, if we said that every ety- 
mological difficulty arises more or less from this systematic 
abbreviation. 

There are two ways in which this tendency manifests 
itself — in the loss of the termination, and in the coalition 
of syllables in the middle of the word. 

When clipt or mutilated words are common in any 
language, the cause is to be sought in the strength and 
prominence of the single accent, which is generally thrown 
forward as far as possible, and in the impatience with 
which practical and busy men hurry through that part of 
their work which consists in talking. The rules of the 
Latin metrical system might have prepared us for some- 
thing of the kind. It has been shewn in a former chapter 
(above, p. 174), that the triple recurrence of the ictus was 
the essential feature of the Saturnian verse, the thesis be- 
ing observed or neglected at the pleasure of the composer. 
Similarly, the accentuated syllable of a word, or that on 
which the emphasis of pronunciation was allowed to fall, 
was supposed to represent the significance of the term, 
just as the weight of a body is considered to be collected 
at its centre of gravity; and the other syllables were 



§ 2.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 271 

slurred over or cast aside as superfluous and unnecessary 
incumbrances. As instances of this, one might adduce a 
number of syncopised forms of common words. We have 
ac for atque, amavere for amaverunt, amare for amaris, ccel 
for ccelo, do for domo, dein for delude, gau for gaudio, nee 
for neque, neu for neve, ni for nisi, pa for parte, po for 
populo, sen for sive, &c. ; and, not to speak of the visdrgah, 
by which a final s, though written, was not pronounced 
(N. Crat. p. 317), we have a number of words in which the 
termination -is or -us was regularly abridged to -e : such 
as, ille, ipse, mage, &c. for ollus, ipsus, magis, &c. The 
contemptuous familiarity with which the master addressed 
his slaves gave rise to a number of abbreviations of the 
Greek names of the latter. Thus, Artemidorus was called 
Artemas (Varro, L. L. viii. § 21), and Demodorus shrunk 
into Demas or Dama (Hor. ii. Serm. 5, 101 ; ibid. 6, 54). 

But the hasty pronunciation of the Romans, so far as 
it was exhibited in the written forms of the language, 
appears chiefly in the omission of letters or syllables in 
the middle of words. If the hurried talker has time to 
pronounce more than one syllable, he would rather pre- 
serve the termination than any of the middle sounds. 
Indeed, the accent sometimes stands over the ruins of a 
number of syllables, which it has fused into one com- 
pound articulation. The following instances, selected 
from a very large number, may serve to illustrate this : 
Ala for Axilla (Cic. Orat. c. 45, § 153); aula (olio) for 
auxilla; bruma (s. c. dies), "the shortest day," from bre- 
vimus ; career from co-arceo ; contaminare, the derivative 
verb from contagimen; contio for conventio ; ounce for cu- 
bince, dixti for dixisti, exilis for exigilis (from egeo, cf. exi- 
guus), imus for infimus, jusso for jussero, mala for maxilla, 
mollis for mobilis, omentum for opimentum, otium for opitium, 
Pollius for Publilius (Nieb. II. R. i. n. 977),paullus ioxpaux- 
illus, prudens for providens, puella for puerula, qualus for 



272 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [Ch. X. 

quasillus, sacellum for sacraculum (comp. sakaraMum Here- 
kleis=sacellum Herculis, in the Cippus Abellanus, 1. 11), 
solari for sublevari, sublimis for sublevimis (cf. fiereoopo?) ; 
subtilis, " fine-spun," for subtexilis (comp. subtemen, tela) ; 
summits for supremus, tandem for tamendem, trucido for tau- 
ricido, vdnus for vacanus, velum for vexillum, &c. This is 
particularly remarkable in the flexion-forms of nouns and 
verbs ; and as we have seen above, the complete forms 
cannot be restored until we have made good the losses 
occasioned by this systematic abbreviation. In some cases 
this abbreviation will appear in a compound, though the 
full form is retained in the simple word. Thus, although 
the gen. cujus retains the original termination, this has 
been shortened into i in the compound : cui-cui-modi for 
cujus-cujus-modi (Cic. ad Att. iii. 22). 

The Romans, however, were not satisfied with getting 
rapidly through their simple words. The same principle 
was applied to the compounds: thus magis volo was writ- 
ten malo, non volo became nolo, postmurium was shortened 
into pomoerium, and so forth ; and not only so, but we also 
find that in the case of quasi-com pounds, made up of two 
or more words, which are not amalgamated by the loss of 
inflexions into one whole, some part of the termination of 
the first word is regularly omitted, and thus the group is 
subjected to the domination of a single accent. It may be 
sufficient to mention such words as audin = audisne ; Ecere, 
Ecastor, Epol = [per] cedem Cereris, Castoris, s. Pollu- 
cis Z 1 ho 'die = hoc die, meridie= media die, multimodis = 
multis modis, nudiustertius = nunc dies tertius, omnimodis 

1 It has been shewn above (p. 208) that the dentals, when preceded and 
followed by vowels, are frequently omitted in the French forms of Latin 
words ; and it will be shewn below that d and t must have been dropt in the 
old pronunciation of some Latin words, such as pater, modo, quidein. The 
words Epol and Ecastor exhibit the same fact in the written forms of the old 
Latin language, and therefore complete the induction. 



§ 3.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 273 



= omnibus modis, refert=rei-fert, sis = si vis, 
si audes, tectifractis = tectis fractis, vasargenteis—vasibus 
argenteis, &c. Then, again, we find a number of verbal 
juxtapositions, for we cannot term them compounds, be- 
longing to the same class : such are pate-facio =patere- 
facio, sci-licet = scire licet, vide-licet = videre-licet, Sec. 
It has been shewn above, that many verbs in -do, -eo, -so, 
may be explained in the same manner ; and that a similar 
analysis may be applied to the secondary tenses of every 
verb. 

It is not necessary to pursue this part of the subject 
any further; for we can scarcely read a page of Latin 
without finding some proofs of the general rule. 1 

II. But although there is much abbreviation in the § 3. 

written forms of the Latin language, the orthography of ^o^g^ 6 ^ 
the Romans expressed much more than their articulation, difference be- 

mi • • • • tween the 

Ims is more conspicuous m proportion as we take a more spoken and 
polished and advanced period of the language. Before language 6 " 
'proceeding to demonstrate this from the metres of the 
comedians, it will be convenient to adduce some passages, 
in which the difference between the written and the spoken 
language of ancient Rome is expressly recognised. 

When Cicero's Crassus (de Oratore, iii. 11, § 41) is 
speaking of the true mode of pronouncing Latin, he says : 
" I do not like the separate letters to be either pronounced 
with pedantic accuracy, or slurred over too carelessly." 
This shews that, though an uneducated countryman might 

1 The reader might be referred for further instances to a paper on the 
" Ausfall oder Verwandlung der Consonanten durch Zusammenziehung oder 
Assimilation in der Lateinischen Sprache," in the Rheinisch. Museum for 
1839 (pp. 42 — 81); but, although most of the words there enumerated are 
cases of contraction, the author, Professor Schwenck, has not been happy in 
his restorations. In the same volume of the Rhein. Mus., p. 297, there is a 
criticism on Prof. Schwenck by Dr. Diintzer. 
T 



274 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [Ch. X. 

represent by his articulation too little of the written word, 
it would be a fault, on the other hand, if the scholar recol- 
lected too much of his spelling. Again, Suetonius, who 
had seen the chirograph of Augustus {Vit. Octav. c. 87), 
writes thus about his method of spelling (c. 88) : " He did 
not strictly attend to orthography, — that is, the method 
and laws of writing as taught by the grammarians; — on 
the contrary, he seems rather to adopt the opinion of those 
who think that we should write just as we talk. For as to 
his often changing or omitting not letters only, but whole 
syllables, this is a common inaccuracy ; nor would I re- 
mark the fact, did it not appear strange to me that he 
should have superseded a consular legate as being illite- 
rate, because he saw in his handwriting ixi for ipsi." From 
this it is clear, that in the time of Augustus people did 
not pronounce as they wrote. Quintilian, too, expressly 
tells us (Inst. Orat. xi. 3, § 33), that, " although it is 
necessary, on the one hand, to articulate every word, yet it 
is wearisome and disgusting to take account of every letter, 
and as it were to reckon them up: for not only is the 
crasis of vowels very common, but even some of the con- 
sonants are disguised when a vowel follows ;" and then he 
quotes the examples of both ecthlipsis and synaloepha in 
Virgil's multum itte et terris. From these and other pas- 
sages which might be quoted, we conclude that the written 
language of Rome could not be taken as a standard of 
even the most exact and careful pronunciation of educated 
men living in the city itself, whose mode of pronouncing 
was strikingly different from that of the provincials (Cicero, 
de Orator e, iii. 11, § 43). Accordingly, the colloquial- 
isms of the country people must have been still further 
removed from the written language of the day, and are less 
to be inferred from it. 

The true way of considering the Latin language, if we 



§ 4.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 275 

wish to realise to ourselves its spoken form, is to regard 
it as struggling with the fetters of the Greek metrical 
system. 

The poetry of the Augustan age shews us, that the § 4. 

^ ^ , o -. i-i • The p° etr y of 

Greek rules oi metre are observed with greater strictness the Augustan 

by the Romans who adopted them than by the Greeks Jf^esmtae 

themselves. With the Roman poets the trochaic dipodia, genuine Latin 

pronunciation; 

that important rhythm in lyric poetry, always appears 
under the form of trochee -f- spondee ; whereas in the 
Greek system there was nothing to prevent the dipodia 
from being pure. Take, for instance, the Sapphic verse : 
Horace's second foot is always a spondee, Sappho's as 
often a trochee. The same minute accuracy, or rather 
sameness, is observable in their anacrusis. In Horace's 
Alcaics the anacrusis at the beginning of the first three 
lines is rarely a short syllable ; but in his Greek models 
he would as often find a short syllable as a long one. 1 

1 The remarks in the text refer to a mode of scanning the Sapphic and 
Alcaic stanzas, which is not in accordance with the common doctrine, but 
which is, I think, demonstrably correct. The Sapphic and Alcaic stanzas 
differ only in a varied arrangement of the same elements ; and the three first 
lines of the Alcaic stanza begin with an anacrusis, which the Sapphic rhythm 
excludes. If we call the dactyl A, the trochee B, and the anacrusis x, the 
law of the verse appears in the following simple formulas : 

(1) Sapphic stanza : 2 B + A + 2 B iter) 

2 A. 

(2) Alcaic stanza : « + 2B + 2A (bis) 

a? + 4B 
2 A + 2B. 

Thus, for example, the Sapphic contains three lines like — Jam sa\tis ter\\ris 
nivis || dtque \ dirm ||, and one like — terruit \ urbem || ; where it will be ob- 
served, the second member of the trochaic as well as the dactylic dipodia is 
always a spondee. The Alcaic has two lines like — Vt\des ut \ alta \\ stet nive | 
candidum ||, one like — Sil\vae la\boran\\tes ge\htque ||, and one like — Flu- 
mina \ c6nstite\\rint a\cuto. With regard to the Sapphic verse, in particular, 
it will not perhaps be easy to correct errors which are sanctioned no less by 



276 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [Ch. X. 

All this leads to the inference, that the poetry of the Au- 
gustan age was recited with a pedantic accuracy at variance 
with the genius of the language ; and as the German opera- 
singers at the present day soften down their gutturals in 
order to accommodate their language to the flowing rhythm 
of Italian music, so the Romans, in the days of Horace 
and Virgil, were proud of their foreign fetters, and were 
glad to display the ascendancy which vanquished Greece 
had gained over the minds of her rude conquerors, 

§ 5. This refined and mincing pronunciation was, of course, 

to^derived 61 " * ess compatible with the colloquialisms of comedy than 
from an exami- w ith the elegant stiffness of copied heroic or lyric poetry, 
nation of the _ , , , , ,. , , . 

comic metres. Consequently, though the comedians borrowed their me- 
tres from the Greeks, they were content to pronounce the 
words as they were uttered by the common people ; and 
as the busy talkers of the forum were- wont to clip and 
contract their words, so the syllables usually omitted in 
speaking were not taken into account on the comic stage. 
When, therefore, we can recognise the law of the verse 
in a Latin comedy, but find that the syllables, as they 
stand written in many of the lines, are more numerous 
than is necessary for the feet of the verse, we may safely 
conclude that the superfluous syllables were omitted in 
the pronunciation of the actor ; and if by him, a fortiori, 
that they were habitually slurred over by the majority of 
his audience. This opinion will be confirmed, if we dis- 
cover, on further inquiry, that the syllables so dispensed 

the practice of schools than by the well-known jingle of the Anti-Jacobin ; 
but it is not to be borne that this ignorance should exalt itself to dogmatism. 
In the last number of the Classical Museum (p. 338, sqq.) there is an article 
in which we are told that the Sapphic verse, " recited with the true metrical 
quantity and the natural spoken accent," will read thus: Jdwm sattees j 
taerees || nivis autque \ deercs, &c. ; and that the following is a Sapphic of the 
same kind : che il gran sepolcro libero di Christo ! And this is delivered, 
not as a modest suggestion, but as a decree of oracular wisdom. 



§ 5.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 277 

with are not found in the corresponding forms exhibited 
by the modern idioms which derive their origin from the 
language of ancient Rome. 

The following instances, few out of many, may be suf- 
ficient to establish this. 1 Let us first take some of the 
short imperatives, which are, by the nature of the case, 
especially liable to hurried pronunciation. As our look! 
has degenerated into lo /, and the Latin vide has become 
the Italian ve\ and the French vol or v (in voi-ci, v'la) ; so 
in Terent. Adelph. ii. 2, 31, it is clear that we must pro- 
nounce the line : 

Labdscit : {m? hoc hdbyo : vfr si sat placet. 

Here, also, we have Italian abbio. Similarly, as Cicero 
tells us, 2 that cave ne eas was pronounced cauneas, we see 
that the following line (Pkormio, v. 1, 37) must be pro- 
nounced : 

Sed per deos atqu' hommes, rn'am ess" 1 hanc, cdu resciscat quisquam. 

This line also furnishes the French abbreviation hommes; 
and the form mus for mens, which, with its analogies, is 
reproduced in the French, Italian, and Spanish. The 
Troubadours wrote mos, ma, mon, for mens, mea, meum; 
and Ennius has sas for suas. The same sort of contrac- 
tion has taken place in the Greek possessives : see New 
Crat. p. 164. 

Then, again, as the French say tai, it is clear that face 
is a single long syllable in the following line (Adelph. ii. 
4,16): 

At ut omne reddat — omne reddet — tai-mod\ dc suire hdc—sequor. 

Which line also furnishes us with the imperative suire for 

1 The reader, who desires a more copious induction, cannot do better than 
consult an excellent article on the subject in the Journal of Education (vol. ii. 
p. 344, sqq.), written, I believe, by Professor T. H. Key. 

2 De Divin. ii. 40, § 84 : " Quum M. Crassus exercitum Brundisii impo- 
neret, quidam in portu, caricas Cauno advectas vendens, Cauneas, clamitabat. 
Dicamus, si placet, monitum ab eo Crassum, caver et ne iret." 



278 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [Ch. X. 

sequere, if we may in this case also follow the French 
analogy. In general there seems to have been a tendency 
towards softening down the guttural into its ultimate form, 
the vowel i. This has obviously taken place in faire and 
ceil, derived from facere and oculus ; and not only is the 
imperative tace a monosyllable, but also its indicative tacet, 
as in the following line (Adelph. iv. 5, 5) : 

Tait : cur non lud'' hunc dVquantisper milyus est. 

Where for aVquantisper compare Italian alcuno, and the 
French aucun, from aliquis unus. It can scarcely be 
doubted that Adelphi, iii. 2, 20, was pronounced as fol- 
lows : 

' AdHescenf ips"" erip'r' ceilos: posthac praecip' tern darem ; 

and that in iii. 2, 37, lacrymas is a dissyllable after the 
analogy of larme, and of servient from sacr amentum. Si- 
milarly, in Heaut. v. 5, 16, quoted below, as the ictus falls 
on facile, we may conclude that it was pronounced as a 
single long syllable. Festus tells us that there was a form 
facul, and facile appears as a mere anacrusis in the Scipio 
epitaph (c. 5) ; above, Ch. VI. § 20. Perhaps the most 
singular instance of this omission of the guttural is fur- 
nished by the French faible from fiexibilis ; for in this 
there is a double collapse. 

The imperatives abi, redi, are monosyllables with the 
omission of the unnecessary b and d {Adelph. ii. 1,13, and 
36), and jube throws off its b (Adelph. v. 6, 1), as it does in 
the perfect, &c. 

The phrase bono animo es is shortened for the same 
reason as the other imperatives. In Plautus (Rudens, iii. 
3, 17) it forms a cretic : 

'O salutis meae spes tac' dc bon-ame es. 

"We observe the same sort of abbreviation in a number 
of nouns of common occurrence ; such, for instance, as ex- 
press the nearest degrees of family relationship. The com- 



§ 5.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 279 

pound parricida indicates a contraction of pater analogous 
to the French pere, and the word was probably so pro- 
nounced in such lines as (Adelph. i. 1, 51): 

Hoc pater ac dominus interest : hoc qui nequit ; i. e. 
Hoc pere ac donnus interest : hoc qui nequit. 

and (Adelph. i. 2, 46) : 

Natura tu Mi pater es, consiliis ego ; i. e. 
Natura tu gli pere es, consiglis ego. 

where the ictus falls upon it. In the latter line, as tu is 
emphatic, an elision would be inadmissible; we must there- 
fore pronounce Mi either as the Italian gli or as the French 
lui, and this gives us another modern analogy. In the 
former line dominus is probably a dissyllable following the 
analogy of domino,, which becomes donna in Italian, and 
dame in French. Similarly, homines is a monosyllable in 
the passage quoted above from the Phormio ; animus be- 
comes ame ; femina, femme, &c. 

That puer was often a monosyllable appears from the 
forms por, pora, which occur in inscriptions, from the com- 
pounds Lucipor, Marcipor, &c, and from the Spartan rrolp 
for 7rat?. In Heaut. v. 5, 16, the old reading will stand if 
we may pronounce it thus : 

Gndte m'yo pol ti do pullam lepidam qudm tufail amis. 

The Romans frequently omitted b in the middle of a word : 
this is most common in the dat. and abl. pi. of the first de- 
clension, and is also observable in the French derivatives ; 
such as ou and y from ubi and ibi. For the change of puer 
into por, we may also compare the transformation offuere 
and fuerent into fore, forent. 

Perhaps two of the most striking instances of this dipt 
pronunciation are afforded by the scansion of the particles 
quidem and modo, in both of which the d is omitted. With 
regard to the former even Bentley remarked that it must 
be frequently a monosyllable in Terence (ad Andr. i. 3, 



280 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [Ch. X. 

20). The following reasons have been adduced to prove 
that it was so in general. ( 1 ) The analogy of item, short- 
ened from itidem, will support the pronunciation of qu'em 
for quidem. (2) As it is an enclitic, and is regularly at- 
tached to certain words, in the same way as irep, ye, &c. 
in Greek, it seems reasonable to suppose that it would be 
peculiarly liable to curtailment. Now, if we retain the 
full form of quidem with some of these words, we alter 
their quantity, and so sacrifice the principal word in order 
to preserve a mere appendage. Thus, ego-quidem, or eg- 
quidem, is marked e quidem in books on Latin prosody, and 
siquidem, quandoquidem, are marked siquidem, quando qui- 
dem, although the true quantity of the separate words is 
si, quando; and though in other compounds — quanddque, 
quandocunque — this quantity is invariably retained. It 
follows, therefore, that quandoquidem must have been pro- 
nounced quanddqu'em; siquidem, siqu'em; and equidem, 
equ'em; just as me quidem must be scanned me qu'em in 
Pers. i. 10: 

Littera : per me quidem sint omnia protinus alba. 

In the same way it is manifest that modo must often 
have been a monosyllable : see e. g. Ter. Andr. ii. 1 , 2, and 
ii. 4, 6. In the languages derived from the Latin the com- 
pound quomodo is represented by como Sp., come It., and 
comme Fr. ; in which the d is omitted, and, in the last, as 
in the old French cum (below, § 9), the syllable is dropt 
altogether. 

§ 6. III. We may now pass, by a natural transition, to our 

gua°^s°hebest third source of information respecting the constitution of 
modern re P re - the Latin language — that which exhibits it pathologically, 
spoken Latin, or in its state of disorganisation or decay. 

It will not be expected that I should here shew at 
length how the Romance languages were formed from the 
Latin. It will be sufficient to point out some of the 



§ 6.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 281 

reasons for believing that the French language is a better 
living representative of the pronunciation of the ancient 
Italians than the language which is now spoken in the 
peninsula itself; and, in conclusion, to state briefly what 
was the process of the disintegration, and. in what degree 
the modern differed from the ancient form. 

As the Romans successively conquered the different 
nations which formed the population of Italy, they gra- 
dually included within the limits of a single empire a 
number of different tribes, who spoke idioms, or dialects, 
differing but little from the language of the Romans them- 
selves. It is not, therefore, surprising that a gradual amal- 
gamation should, have taken place, and that every Italian 
should have spoken, with only slight variations of accent, 
one and the same Latin language. The language of Rome 
itself — the language of government, of literature, and of 
law — would, of course, be independent of these minor 
differences. Every educated man and every public func- 
tionary would refer to this unvarying standard, and would 
speak or write, in some cases with pedantic accuracy, the 
language of the senate-house and the forum. Accord- 
ingly, the inhabitants of the provinces, i. e. the foreign 
subjects of the Empire, would hear nothing but pure 
Roman Latin ; and, if they learned the language of their 
rulers at all, they would at least learn it in the best 
form. Their position in this respect differed materially 
from that of colonists, even in ancient times. The colonists 
of our day, and especially the English emigrants, present 
a natural contrast to the case of the Roman provincials. 
For, while the colonists who sailed from Corinth or Athens 
were of all classes — ol tv^ovtc? — our modern colonists 
are generally those who are either not able to live at home, 
or, at all events, who practise trades inconsistent with a 
high amount of educational polish. We find, therefore, 
that colonial English represents only the vulgar colloquial 



282 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [Ch. X. 

language of the mother-country ; whereas the Roman pro- 
vincials spoke a language derived — imperfectly, it might 
be, but still derived — from the polished and elegant dic- 
tion of proconsuls, jurisconsults, and publicani. 

The Gauls, in particular, were remarkable for their 
tendency to assimilate themselves, in their language and 
usages, to the Romans. In an inconceivably short space 
of time the province of Gallia was completely Romanised. 1 
Their own language was out of the pale of civilisation : 
in fact, they had no mother-tongue to struggle for. A lan- 
guage is only dear to us when we know its capabilities, and 
when it is hallowed by a thousand connexions with our 
civilisation, our literature, and our comforts. So long as 
it merely lisps the inarticulate utterances of half-educated 
men, it has no hold upon the hearts of those who speak it, 
and it is readily neglected or thrown aside in favour of the 
more cultivated idiom, which, while it finds names for lux- 
uries of civilisation before unknown, also opens a commu- 
nication with those who appear as the heralds of moral and 
intellectual regeneration. The Greeks and the Jews had 
good reasons for loving the language of their ancestors, and 
could never be induced to forget or relinquish the flowing 
rhythms of their poets or the noble energy of their prose 
writers. The case was not so with the provincials of Gaul. 
Without any anterior predilections, and with a mobility of 
character which still distinguishes their modern representa- 
tives, they speedily adopted the manners and the words of 
the Romans ; and it is probable that in the time of the 
Empire there was no more difference between the gramma- 

1 How completely this was the case even in Cicero's time may be inferred 
from what he says in his Orat. pro Fonteio, 1, § 1: " Referta Gallia negotia- 
torum est, plena civium Romanorum. Nemo Gallorum sine cive Romano 
quidcpiam negotii gerit ; nummus in Gallia nullus sine civium Romanorum 
tabulis commovetur," &c. For the literary culture of Gaul some hundred 
years later, the reader may consult the commentators on Juvenal, i. 44, 
vii. 147, 8, xv. 111. 



§ 7-1 OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 2b3 

tical Latin of Lyons and Rome, than there is now between 
the grammatical French of St. Petersburg and Paris. 

From what I have just said, it should appear that the § 7. 

Latin spoken in Gaul was upon the whole better and purer Italian not 

than the Latin spoken in the municipal districts of Italy e q uall y s °; 
r x J and why. 

during the time of the Empire. Let us, however, suppose 
that they were only equally good. Then, if it can be 
shewn that the disturbing causes were greater and more 
efficacious in Italy than in Gaul, we shall still have a 
greater surplus of good Latinity in the latter. 

Before the Italian language revived as a vehicle of lite- 
rary communication, the peninsula had been subjected to 
a series of invasions which had modified and corrupted in 
no slight degree the speech of the country people. This 
was effected not only by the influence of the conquerors, 
but also by the infusion of a considerable amount of foreign 
population. In Lombardy and other parts, where the in- 
vaders formed a permanent settlement, the change was 
most sensibly and durably felt ; whereas Tuscany, which 
had been screened by its position from any permanent or 
extensive occupation by the northern tribes, was not ex- 
posed to this corruption of its familiar language, and its 
greater wealth, its commerce, and its independence, pre- 
served among its inhabitants a residuum of the old Latin 
literature and civilisation. 

When, therefore, vernacular composition revived in Italy, 
it was emphatically Tuscan. It is true that the new lite- 
rary language spread itself over the whole of Italy, and that 
there were varieties of accent in the different districts. 1 

1 On these differences of Italian articulation Matthseus ^Egyptius writes 
as follows (ad S. C. de Bacch. p. 145) : " Q.uosdam audias ore adstricto, et 
inter dentes, dimidiata verba tanquam invitos, et cum quadam parsimonia 
efferre, ut Ligures : quosdam ore patulo et laxo, claraque et sonora voce 
animi sensus effundere, ut Neapolitani faciunt : medios inter hos Senenses, 



284 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [Ch. X. 

Still, however, a purity of Tuscan phraseology is essential 
to literary correctness; and whatever a man's native accent 
may be, he must accommodate it to this court-language. 
It follows, therefore, that the pronunciation of modern 
Italian must be syllabic. In other words, it must be more 
akin to the studied accuracy with which the Romans of 
the Augustan age pronounced their Graecised poetry, than 
to the natural articulation of the ancient Italians. It has 
been truly said, that the Italian language cannot be pro- 
nounced both well and quickly. This is only another ex- 
pression of the fact, that a literary language, which is not 
natural, can only be articulated syllabically. The qualifi- 
cation of lingua Toscana in bocca Romana is another illus- 
tration of the same fact ; for here we have a recognition of 
the truth, that the modern Italian is a written language to 
be pronounced according to its syllables, and that of the 
accents, in which it can be pronounced, the best and 
sweetest is that of a well-educated inhabitant of the ponti- 
fical metropolis. 

§ 8. Very different was the case of the Gauls. After living 

French Ian- & ^ 0T severa l hundred years under the dominion and influence 
of the Romans, and having lost their Celtic language and 
in a great measure their Celtic character, they were in- 
vaded and partially conquered by a confederation of Ger- 
man warriors, who called themselves Franks, a name indi- 
cating their bold and martial character. 1 The domination 

queis Musa dedit ore rotundo loqui. Adderem Florentinos nisi ex imo gut- 
ture pronuntiantes originem adhuc ostenderent Phoeniciam." 

1 It has usually been supposed that the word Frank denotes " free-man," 
so that " French" and " Latin" would, when referred to their etymology, 
appear as synonymous terms. This is not, however, the original meaning of 
the word Frank; though, in a secondary sense, the word has borne this signi- 
fication. In the Teutonic languages, to which it belongs, the word fra-n-k, 
or frak, is equivalent to ferox, and signifies " bold," " warlike," " intrepid" 
(see Thierry, Lettres sur I'Histoire de France, Lettr. vi. p. 436, Bruxelles 



§ 8.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 285 

of these rude conquerors did not destroy the Roman tex- 
ture of the language which was spoken by the inhabitants 
of Gaul. At first both the conquerors and the conquered 
retained their own idioms ; and the lingua Francisca, or 
Francica, of the German invaders flourished by the side 
of the lingua Gallica, or Gallicana, of the conquered pro- 
vincials. In time, however, as there was much more literary 
culture among the latter, and as the priests and scholars 
of the age were all furnished by the district in which the 
Franks had settled, the standard of diction would be sought 
in the language of the more educated class, and the Roman 
language, more or less corrupted, would gradually become 
the medium of communication between the conquerors and 
the conquered. 

As might have been expected, this gradual adoption of 
the Roman language by the Teutonic invaders gave rise 
to a number of dialects. Of these the most refined and 
polished was that which was spoken by the inhabitants of 
the south-eastern district of France. Many causes con- 
spired to give this idiom an earlier development. The 
south-eastern provincials were more completely Romanised 
in the first instance ; l they were less subjected to foreign 
invasion than the other inhabitants of France ; the Bur- 
gundians and Visigoths, who settled among them, were 
more adapted to social life than their German brethren, 
and more readily assimilated their language and customs 

ed.). Ethnical names, in addition to their primitive meaning, are often used 
as expressive of certain qualities, whether the use is complimentary or not. 
Assassin, Gascon, Vandal, and Goth, are attributive words in our own lan- 
guage ; the word Slave has been derived from the low estate of the Sclavo- 
nians; and even in ancient times, Kctp, Kp-fjs, TicupAdyuv, Mvcros, 1vfSapiTt]s, 
~S,kv6i}s, &c, were terms significant of qualities. The German confederacy of 
the Franks seems to have corresponded to that of the Isctsvones; those of the 
Saxons and Thuringians to the Ingcevones and Herminones respectively. 

1 It is right, perhaps, to say, that Marseilles in particular was rather 
Grsecised than Romanised : see Cic. pro Flacco, 26, § 36. 



Z&b CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [Ch. X. 

to those of their subjects; and when at length Provence 
became a part of the Frankish dominions, their conquerors 
were no longer unruly German barbarians, but the civilised 
and Romanised subjects of a regular monarchy. The happy 
climate of Provence, and the wealth and commerce of the 
people, contributed to foster and encourage those arts 
which can only flourish in a genial soil ; and we are not to 
wonder if the provincials outstript the northern Gauls in 
intellectual tastes as well as in physical comforts. 

The connexion between Provence and Catalonia tended 
to increase the civilisation of the latter. But, in reference 
to the present object, to discover a Romance language 
which shall most accurately represent the spoken language 
of the Romans, we may safely dismiss the Spaniards ; 
whose language, already corrupted by the invasions of the 
Suevians and Visigoths, has been still further disorganised 
by the pervading and durable influence of the highly civi- 
lised Arabians. 

The people of Provence were keenly sensible of the 
difference between their own language and that of their 
Franco-Gallic rulers. The names by which they distin- 
guished their own country and that of the French referred 
to the differences of the idioms spoken in them. It is 
singular that this difference should have been expressed in 
terms of the affirmative particle, which they had respect- 
ively adopted. Drawing a line through Dauphine, Lyon- 
nais, Auvergne, Limousin, Perigord, and Saintonge, the 
country to the south of this was called Langue d'oc, the 
district to the north of the line was termed Langue d'oyl. 
Now, although the differences between the Langue d'oc 
and the Langue d'oyl consisted mainly in the greater or 
less development of the Latin element in each, it is to be 
remembered that these affirmative particles are both due 
to their Teutonic affinities. 1 And here is the inconsist- 
1 According to Grimm {D. Gramm. iii. p. 768), oyl is ja il, and oc is ja 



§ 9.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 287 

ency ; the words oc and oyl are equally Frankish or Ger- 
man, and yet the people of the Langue oVoc distinguished 
their language from that of the Langue oVoyl by calling it 
Roman, lemozi, provensalesc ; and they termed themselves 
Provinciates, i. e. Romance Provincice inquilini, as distin- 
guished from the Francigence of the north. 

But whatever were the distinctions between the Ian- § 9. 

guages of the northern and southern inhabitants of the Elects were 
province of Gaul, it is clear that the language of the closely related 

r . ° & to the Latin. 

whole country was to the middle of the ninth century 
a. d. a very near approximation to the Latin. We have 
the original of an oath which was sworn at Strasburg in 
842 a. d., by Lodewig, king of Germany. This interest- 
ing document, which is expressly stated to have been in 
the Romana lingua, is in the following words r 1 — " Pro 

ich; the only difference between them being, that the affirmative is combined 
with the first person in the one case, and with the third person in the other. 
To me it appears that oyl is simply the affirmative ivel or wohl (for this power 
of the initial o see above, p. 37), and that oc is the German auch — etiam 
(Phil Mus. ii. p. 345). 

1 Nithardi Hist. ap. Scr. Rer. Frantic, vii. p. 26, quoted by Thierry, 
Lettres sur VHistoire de France (lettr. xi). Substituting the Latin words 
which come nearest in etymology to the words of this fragment, we have : Pro 
Dei amore et pro Christiano populo etnostro communi salvamento, de isto die 
in ab-ante, in quantum Deus sapere et posse rnihi donabit, sic salvare habeo 
ego ecc' istum meum fratrem Carolum, et in adjutu et in quaque una causa, 
sic quomodo homo per directum suum fratrem salvare debitus est, in eo quod 
ille mihi alterum sic faciei; et ab Lothario nullum placitum numquam pren- 
dere habeo, quod, mea voluntate, ecc' isti meo fratri Carolo in damno sit. 
It is not necessary to enter upon any lengthened discussion of the corrupt 
Latinity of these words. That salvar-ai, &c, are salvare-habeo, &c, is well 
known (N. Crat. p. 454). It appears from the oldest forms of the words that 
the French eel, cest (cist), Italian quello, questo, are the compounds ecc' ille 
and ecc' iste respectively. For, as in Provencal we have aisso, in old French 
aezo, into which go enters, so we have icel and icest, anterior to eel and cest. 
Similarly ici is ecc' ibi. Of altresi, which is common in Italian, Varchi says : 
" Altresi e Provenzale, non Ispagniuolo, e gli antichi nostri scrivevano al- 
tresie, e non altresi." Comp. altrettale, altrettanto. 



200 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [Ch. X. 

Deu amor et pro Christian pohlo et nostra commun salva- 
ment, dist di en avant, in quant Deus savir et podir me 
dunat, si salvarai io cist meon fradre Karle, et in adjuda 
et in cadhuna cosa, si cum om per dreit son fradre salvar 
dist, in o quid il mi altresi fazet : et ah Ludher nul plaid 
numquam prindrai, qui, meon vol, cist meon fradre Karle, in 
damno sit." It appears from the context of the history, 
that the oath was couched in this language in order that it 
might be understood by the French subjects of Karl, le 
Chauve. It was, therefore, the common language of the 
country; and as it is free from Germanisms, and exhibits 
only those corruptions of the Latin for which it is easy to 
account, it furnishes us with a distinct confirmation of the 
opinion, that we ought to seek in the language of France 
for the best modern representative of the language of 
ancient Italy. 

The difference between the modern Italian, considered 
as the offspring of the new Tuscan literature, and the old 
French, regarded as a scion of the Roman language which 
was spoken in the province of Gaul, consists in the fact to 
which I have already adverted — namely, that the former 
would reproduce the mincing and pedantic pronunciation 
of the literary Romans, while the latter would retain the 
genuine colloquial utterance of the free colonists of the 
empire. It is worthy of observation that the French lan- 
guage itself enables us to illustrate this difference. If we 
examine the French language as it is, we shall often find 
double forms of derivatives from the Latin. Now, in 
every one of these cases it is remarkable that the older 
word — that which belongs to the oldest and most genuine 
vocabulary — differs most from the written form or syllabic 
pronunciation of the Latin original. Thus, chez, chose, 
hotel, naif, Noel, pitie, pousser, from casa, causa, hospes, 
nativus, natalis, pietas, expulsare, are older forms than 
case, cause, hopital, native, natal, piete, expulser. (See 



§ 10.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 289 

A. "W. Schlegel, Observations sur la Langue et la Litte- 
rature Prov. p. 44.) The fact is, that the latter were 
derived from the written, the former from the spoken 
language. 

The manner in which the transition from the Latin § 10. 
language to the French may be supposed to have taken tactions 
place is well known, and very easily described. In this between the 

r > j j Roman and 

place we must be contented with a few brief remarks ; for Romance 
it would be an idle attempt to discuss as a secondary 
matter the details of a subject which admits of such ample 
illustration, and which has already been treated at great 
length, though with various degrees of success, by Diez, 
Raynouard, Schlegel, Ampere, Fuchs, and Lewis. 

The tendency of the spoken Latin language to clip and 
mutilate itself began at an early period to militate against 
the regularity of the grammatical forms. With regard to 
the verbs, it has been shewn above that the organic inflex- 
ions had been in a great measure superseded by secondary 
or compound tenses before the commencement of the clas- 
sical age ; and that the person-endings are obliterated, or 
deformed by inconsistencies, in the oldest specimens of 
the written language. In regard to the verbs, then, the 
change from the Roman to the Romance is merely a fur- 
ther development of that which was already in operation. 
The Roman case-system was in itself more complete than 
the conjugation of the verb ; and therefore we may expect 
to find greater changes in the French noun as compared 
with the Latin. In general it may be remarked, that 
when the tendency to abbreviation has commenced its 
action on the flexional forms of a language, certain devices 
are at once adopted for the purpose of preventing any syn- 
tactical obscurity. Indeed, the logical or syntactical deve- 
lopment of a language is generally benefited by the change ; 
and where the etymological organisation becomes imper- 
ii 



290 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [Ch. X. 

feet, the literary capabilities of the particular idiom are 
extended and confirmed. 

There is good reason for believing, that in the spoken 
language of the ancient Italians the difference between the 
subjective and objective cases of the noun was at an early 
period neglected or overlooked (see Lepsius, ad Inscript. 
p. 120). At any rate, it is clear that this was the first 
step towards the breaking up of the Roman case-system. 
The accusative case was substituted for the nominative, 
and all the subordinate relations were expressed by pre- 
fixing prepositions to this new crude form of the noun. 
We observe a tendency of the same kind in vulgar Eng- 
lish ; and perhaps this passage from the subject to the 
object may be explained on general principles, without 
any reference to the want of grammatical education on 
the part of those in whom it is most observable. Con- 
nected with this employment of prepositions to give de- 
fmiteness to the crude forms of nouns, is the use of the 
old Roman demonstratives Me and ipse to mark a definite 
object, as contrasted with unus and aliquis-unus, which 
denote indifference. This is, of course, identical with the 
use of the definitive article in the Greek and other lan- 
guages ; and the Romance languages owe much of their 
acknowledged perspicuity to this adaptation. It is true 
that the artifice is not applied with the logical subtilty 
by which the employment of the Greek article is distin- 
guished ; but any deficiency in this respect is amply com- 
pensated by the strictly logical order of the sentences in 
which the words are arranged. 

It is not necessary in this place to say much on the 
subject of the Romance verb. Where the tenses have 
preserved the forms of the Latin verb, we observe a sys- 
tematic abbreviation. Labials are absorbed, according to 
the practice so remarkable in Latin ; final syllables are 
dropt, and the accent is thrown forward. Generally, how- 



§ 11,] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 291 

ever, the number of compound or auxiliary tenses is very 
much increased. In addition to the verbs sum andfui, we 
find that habeo and sto are regularly pressed into the ser- 
vice. Verbs in their first formation construct their perfect 
and future tenses with the aid of habeo ; for the past parti- 
ciple with habeo makes up the former (as fai aime = ego 
habeo amatum), and the regular future consists of a com- 
bination of the same verb with the infinitive (as faimer-ai 
= ego habeo amare). On these and similar forms see New 
Cratylus, p. 538, and compare Latham's English Gram- 
mar, § 352, sqq. » 

In the preceding pages I have endeavoured to write the § 11. 
history of the Latin language, and to characterise its pecu- y^ueofThe La- 
liarities, from the earliest period of its existence down to tin lan g ua g e - 
the present time, when it is represented by a number of 
daughters, all resembling their mother more or less, and all 
possessing in some degree her beauties and defects. Of 
these, it can hardly be doubted that the French is the most 
authentic as well as the most important representative of 
the family. The Latin and French languages stand related 
to one another, not only in the connexion of affinity, but 
still more so in the important position which they have 
occupied as political and literary organs of communication. 
They have both striven to become the common language of 
civilised and educated men; and they have had singular 
recommendations for the office which they partially as- 
sumed. For power of condensation, for lucid perspicuity, 
and for the practical exposition of common matters, there 
are few idioms which can compete with the Latin or the 
French. In many particulars they fall far behind the 
Greek and the German ; in many more they are surpassed 
by the English ; and it seems now to be determined that 
neither Caesar nor Napoleon was destined to reverse the 
decree of Providence, that man, though the one reasoning 



%\)% THE LATIN LANGUAGE. [Ch. X. 

and speaking creature, should, in different parts of the 
world, express his thoughts in different languages. If 
there is one idiom which seems both worthy and likely 
to include within it the articulate utterances of all the 
world, it is our own, — for we, too, " are sprung of earth's 
first blood," and the sun never sets upon our Saxondom. 
Still we ought not to neglect or discourage the study of 
the old Roman language : though it will never again be- 
come the spoken language of Europe, there is no reason 
why it should not resume its place as the organ of literary 
communication, — why, with its powers of conciseness and 
abbreviation, and with its appropriation of all the conven- 
tional terms of science and art, it should not still flow from 
the pens of those who have truths and facts to communi- 
cate, and who are not careful to invest or disguise them in 
the embellishments of some modern and fashionable style. 
This at least is certain, that the Latin language has struck 
its roots so deeply and so permanently in our own lan- 
guage, that we cannot extirpate it, even if we would ; for 
we must know Latin, if we would thoroughly understand 
our own mother-tongue ; and those who are least learned, 
and most disposed to undervalue classical attainments, are 
most of all liable to further what others would call the 
corruption of our language, by the introduction of new 
terms formed after a Latin model. 



INDICES. 



ETHNICAL NAMES, AND NAMES OF PLACES. 



JEqui, 4. 
Agathyrsi, 27. 
Aleioty, 25. 
Alba, 4. 
Apulus, 4. 
"Apioi, 28. 
Asia, 29. 

Auruncus, Avawv, 4. 
Cascus, 4. 
Etruscus, 11. 
Frank, 284. 
Herminones, 285. 
Iguvium, 48. 
Ingsevones, 285. 
"Iwv, Javan, 24, 29. 



Larissa, 12. 
Latinus, 5, 44. 
Lithuanian, 44. 
Maidoi, 27. 
Massagetae, 29. 
Opicus, Oscus, 3. 
ndpOos, 27. 
UeXaayos, 24. 
ne'Aoif/, 25. 
Quirites, 43. 
Rasena, 16. 
Rhoxolani, 30. 
Roma, 43. 
Romanus, 235. 
Sabinus, 6. 



Sacse, 29. 

Sauromatae, 29, 46. 
Saxon, 29. 
Sclavonian, 45, 285. 
Scolotae, 41. 
2,Ki6ai, 27, 29. 
Tapaaeva, 16. 1 
Terracina, 13, 16. 
Thracians, 27. 
Thyrea, Thyraeon, 12. 
Tvpprjvos, 11. 
Tuscus, ll. 2 
Umbri, 7. 
Volscus, 4. 



SCYTHIAN WORDS. 



aba, 39. 


•Dan-ubius, 33. 


Hypa-caris, 34. 


Apia, 36. 


Dnieper, 34. 


Hypan-is, 34. 


araxa, 39. 


Dniester, 33. 


Is-ter, 32. 


Araxes, 35. 


dun, 33. 


masadas, 37. 


arima, 38. 


Eri-danus, 35. 


Octa-masadas, 37 


Arimaspi, 38, 


Exam-pseus, 40. 


Oito-surus, 37. 


Arthnpasa, 37. 


Ger-rus, 34. 


Oior-pata, 38. 


Borysthenes, 34. 


Grou-casus, 39. 


Panticapes, 34. 


brix-aba, 39. 


halinda, 39. 


Papseus, 36. 



1 Comp. Tursni, Vermiglioli, Iscr. Per. i. p. .' 

2 Comp. Abekeu, Mittelitalien, p. 127. 



294 



INDICES. 



pata, 37, 38. 
phru, 39. 
phry-xa, 39. 
Porata, 33. 
Rha, 35. 



Rho-danus, 35. 
Sparga-pises, Sparga- 

pithes, 38. 
spu, 38. 
Tahiti, 36. 



Tami-masadas, 37. 
Tana-is, 34. 
Temerinda, 37. 
Tyres, 33. 
xa, 39. 



III. 



UMBRIAN WORDS. 



The Alphabetical List in pp. 68, 69, and 



abrons, 60. 
ahaltru, 70. 
anzeriates, 57. 
ape, 54. 
arsie, 55. 
arsmo, 66. 
arepes, 62. 
arveitu, 52. 
arves, 62. 
arvia, 60. 
buf, 59. 
dersecus, 66. 
dupursus, 68. 
enetu, 57. 
enumek, 63. 
erar, erer, 65. 
erus, 54. 
este, 57. 
etre, 68. 
feitu, 60. 
ferine, 60. 
festira, 51. 
fos, 65. 
fri, 66. 
frite, 65. 
frosetom, 55. 
furenr, 52. 
futu, fututo, 54. 
habe, &c., 55. 
heris, 60. 
heritu, 61, 67. 



kapire, 52. 
karetu, 54. 
Krapuvius, 59. 
kupifiatu, 54. 
kurnase, 63. 
kutef, 54, 62. 
mers, 65. 
nep, 67. 
nome, 54. 
okris, 54, 61. 
orer, 66. 
paker, 65. 
parfa, 63. 
peica, peiqu, 63. 
pepe, 70. 
pernaies, 57. 
persei, 66. 
persklum, 57. 
pesetom, 55. 
peturpursus, 68. 
pihatu, 51. 
pir, 67. 
poplu, 54. 
portatu, 65. 
pre, 58. 
prumum, 68, 
prusesetu, 50. 
pufe, 54, 58. 
pune, pus, pusnaies, 
54, 57. 



the following, 
punus, 70. 
purtinsus, 54. 
pusei, puze, 54, 56. 
pustru, 54. 
sevum, 62. 
skrehto, skreihtor, 

55. 
stahito, 51. 
steplatu, 63. 
subator, 66. 
subokau, suboko, 

65. 
sue-pis, 65. 
tases, 62. 
tertie, 68. 
tera, 51, 65. 
tesenakes, 59. 
tesva, 51, 64. 
titis, 71. 
tota, 54, 62. 
tover, 55. 
treplanes, 58. 
tuplak, tupler, tuves, 

68. 
vatuva, 60. 
vehiies, 58. 
veres, 58. 
vitlup, 53. 
ulo, 65. 
uru, 65. 



OSCAN WORDS. 



295 



The Alphabetical List in pp. 74-86, and the following. 



96. 



89. 



aeteis, 93. 
aisken, 96. 
aktud, 94. 
akum, 97. 
alio, 96. 
amirikatud 
amnud, 91. 
ampert, 93. 
angit, anget 
anter, 89. 
atrud, 96. 
araget, aragetud 
Ausil, 84. 
Bansse, 95. 
Bantins, 95. 
brateis, 91. 
Degetasius, 89. 
deivaid, deivast, 
dikust, 93. 
egmazum, 97. 
eituam, eituas, i 
eizazunk, 97. 
embratur, 8. 
estud, 92, 96. 
esuf, 95. 
esak, 91. 
etanto, 92. 
famelo, 96. 
fefakust, 92. 
flusare, 59. 
fortis, 92. 
fuid, fust, 97. 
Herekleis, 272. 
herest, 93. 
hipid, 91. 



him, 97. 
iok, ionk, 90. 
izik, 96. 
kadeis, 91. 
karaeis, 90. 
kastro, 93. 
kebnust, 96. 
kensam, kensaum, 

95. 
kensazet, 96. 
kenstom, 96. 
kenstur, 95. 
keus, 95. 
kom, 94, 
komenei, 90. 
komono, 90. 
kontrud, 92. 
kvaisstur, 52. 
ligis, ligud, 96. 
likitud, 89. 
maimas, 90. 
mais, 90. 

mallum, malud, 90. 
manimasepum, 97. 
meddisud (pru-), 96. 
medikatud, 96. 
mesene, 59. 
minstreis, 93. 
molta, 89. 
moltaum, 92. 
neip, nep, 97. 
nesimois, 97. 
op, 94, 96. 
pa, 96. 
pam, 94. 



pertemust, 90. 
perum, 90. 
petiropert, 94. 
piei, 91. 
pis, 83, 90. 
pod, 91, 92. 
poizad, 95. 
pomtis, 94. 
pon, 95. 
post-esak, 91. 
prsefukus, 96. 
prsesentid, 96. 
preivatud, 94. 
pru, 94. 
pruhipid, 91. 
prumedikatud, 96. 
pruter, 94. 
puf, 95. 
Q[usestor], 89. 
sakaraklum, 272. 
senateis, 90. 
set, 97. 
siom, 90. 
sipus, 94. 
skriftas, 97. 
suae, 90. 
tadait, 92. 
tanginud, 90. 
toutiko, 92, 96. 
valsemom, 92. 
vinkter, 96. 
urust, 94. 
ust, 95. 
uzet, 95. 
zikolom, 94. 



296 



v. 



ETRUSCAN WORDS. 



The Alphabetical Lists in pp. 113-125, 132, 133, 

Ancaria, 111. 
Apulu, Aplu, 109, 



Aril, 124. 
Aritimis, 39, 129. 
Aruns, 71. 
Ausil, 108. 
ceca, 129. 
Ceres, 111. 
clifinchfe, 122. 
clen, 130. 
Elchsntre, 102. 
epana, 127. 
Epure, 109, 128. 
erai, 127. 
etera, 129. 
ethe, 127. 
Feronia, 108. 
fuius, 128. 
helefu, 127, 135. 
Janus, 106. 
Juno, 107. 



Jupetrul, 128. 
Kalairu, 128. 
kethuma, 127. 
Kupra, 77, 107. 
Lar, 112. 
lauchme, 71. 
lisiai, 127. 
Mantus, 110. 
maram, 127. 
Mars, 108. 
mathu, 127, 206. 
Matuta, 109. 
Menerfa, 108. 
Merqurius, 112. 
mi, 127. 
nastav, 127. 
Nethuns, 109, 127. 
ni, 127. 
Nortia, 111. 
phleres, 129. 
Phupluns, 136. 



and the following. 

Porsena, 16. 
Rasne, 16. 
Saturnus, 108. 
Secstinal, 103. 
Sethlans, 108. 
sie, 127. 
Soranus, 109. 
Sothina, 109. 
Summanus, 106. 
Tanaquil, 103, 134. 
Thalna, 107. 
Thana, 134. 
Thipurenai, 127. 
Tina, 105. 
turce, 129. 
Turms, 112. 
Vedius, 107. 
Vertumnus, 108. 
Usil, 84. 
Utuze, 103. 



VI. 



aypios, 219. 
a&V, 207. 
ale-ri, ald6s, 37. 
aipe'co, 61. 
aTo-a, 37, 113. 
a'twv, 114. 
aAis, 207. 
a/xelvtov, 120. 
&/Mireipa, 144. 
&va£, 204. 
'Airia, 36. 
&pyos, 12. 
"A P 7js, 195. 
"Aprefxts, 39, 129. 
a(Tv<pT)Aos, 124. 



GREEK WORDS. 

'AfypoMrr), 239. 
/8\n-™, 191. 
BepeviKr], 35. 
BSawopos, 35. 
Pods, 116. 
fivpyos, 35. 
yeAeovres, 119. 
y\vKvppi£a, 202. 
da-ftp, 207. 
SaKpvov, 207. 
SaXis, 77. 
8a\6s, 207. 
Sa-rravr), 127. 
SatyiAris, 207. 
SeiKos, 207. 



SetvSs, 78. 

S-qfiSo-ios, 227, 232. 

Stx°M v ' la > 118. 

SixMpepai, 191. 

Bwpov, 207. 

e(e<recu, 204. 

el, 204. 

elKwv, 118. 

iAevdepos, 5, 45. 

e\\6s, 204. 

eno/xai, 204. 

epis, 204. 

eW, 239. 

Zeis, 105. 

riAws, ffe\7)Vt), 84, 108. 



INDICES. 



297 



Vlixepos, 219. 
ddXaa-ffa, 203. 
Oatfeiv, 206. 
Oe/xis, indecl , 2i:i. 
6fy, 193, 206. 
Orjres, 95. 
eipa, 206. 
ed5pij|, 207. 
6S>vfj.a, 219. 
?5jos, 239. 
'Ifiepa, 219. 
«aA<fe, 207. 
«\v«, 45. 
kovvoo, 202. 
K6<Tfj.os, 202. 
KpavaSs, 79. 
KpixnaWos, 39. 
Ao/ios, &c, 113. 
Kit pa, 5. 
/«(i/T t s, 110, 195. 
fia<TT6s, 44. 
juaTijj/, 121. 



,ue0!/, 207. 
fieAas, 24. 
yuecfr, 227. 
fiea-rnx^pia, 191. 
fivpioi, 215. 
j/a^o's, 127. 
»/«o, 109. 
^iuos, 153. 
'Oapiai?', 195. 
oa(r:s, 37. 
o8ow, 208. 
'05u<r<reus, 103. 
olffrpos, 37, 202. 
irapOiuos, 193. 
iraffd(T9ai, 70. 
irari\p, 36. 
ireAios, TreAiSvSs, 25. 
ttjVco, 70, 252. 
TtAripris, 207. 
iroTp, 279. 
TrrfAts, 62. 
TrpvAees, 215. 



peiQpov, 123. 
(iotpSos, 202. 
ffi<po>p, 124. 
2oa>5tVa, 109. 
(TTu^eAds, 194. 
(TXeVAios, 204. 
tc£Ais, 107. 
rep/xls, 112. 
tis, 105. 
t?<|>os, 36. 
rpaxus, 13. 
rvpavvos, 12. 
Tupcris, 11. 
uircos, 204. 
<po\n6s, 193. 
Xa/uif, 127, 198. 
%aot, 4. 
Xap/ttrj, 204. 
xVj 116. 
X^Ajoj, 215. 
XAwpos, 118. 



accerso, 207, 252. 
accuso, &c, 215. 
acerra, 167. 
acervus, 139. 
actus, 94, 221. 
adoro, 164, 209. 
adulo, 209. 
seger, 214. 
aeneus, abenus, 51. 
sereus, seneus, 207. 
sestimo, 214. 
setemus, 108, 114. 
ala, 267. 
ambitus, 159. 
amicus, 207. 
amo, 39. 
amoenus, 120. 
ampirvo, 145. 
ancilla, 111. 
anguis, 117. 
annus, 123. 



VII. 

LATIN WORDS. 

antiquus, 219. 
ara, 113. 
arcera, 150. 
arcesso, 207, 252. 
assiduus, 150. 
augur, 214. 
aula, 271. 
auris, 207. 
axo, 57. 
bellum, 191. 
berber, 140. 
berbex, 39. 
bitumen, 191. 
bonus, 191, 195. 
bruma, 27 1 . 
calvitur, 149. 
canus, candidus, 39, 

74. 
capesso, 252. 
caput, 39, 194. 
career, 271. 



caterva, 139. 
cauneas, 277. 
cerus manus, 120, 143. 
ceva, 116. 

cboroiaulodos, 143. 
cimeterium, 216. 
cippus, 194. 
clam, calim, 243. 
cliens, 222. 
clipeus, 222. 
coena, 74. 
cobors, 51. 
colonia, 200. 
cominus, eminus, 243. 
comissari, 50. 
compascuus, 160. 
concapes, 158. 
contio, 208, 271. 
contaminare, 271. 
coquus, 200. 
coram, 243. 



298 



INDICES. 



corvus, 116. 
cosol, 173. 
crus, 122. 
cuicuimodi, 272. 
cujus, &c, 200, 233. 
culmen, 130. 
cunse, 271. 
cupidus, 241. 
curia, curiatius, 76. 
decumanus, 221. 
deliro, 222. 
denuntio, 185. 
dequim, 180. 
dextra, 65. 
dice, 141. 
diffensus, 153. 
difficultas, 217. 
dissicentes, 66. 
divide-, 118. 
donum, 207. 
dumtaxat, 181. 
dunque, 143. 
Ecastor, &c, 272. 
elementum, 102. 
enim, 96. 
enos, 139. 
equideni, 280. 
equus, 38, 201. 
escit, 250. 
esum, 248. 
exiguus, 271. 
exilis, 271. 
existimo, 213, 214. 
explodo, 216. 
facie, 141. 
facul, 178, 243, 279. 
fagus, 190. 
Fatua, 117. 
fatuus, 60. 
febris, 117. 
fera, 193. 
fero, 190. 
finalis, 253. 
findo, 118, 208. . 
folium, 190. 
forent, 279. 
foveo, 117. 
frangere, 190. 



fraudem frausus, 16f 
frustra,gl21. 

fui, 250, 252. 
fundus, 221. 
Gaius, 197. 
Gnaeus, 197. 
gena, 196. 
generosus, 236. 
genus, 196. 
glisco, 130. 
globus, 44, 195. 
gnarures, 230. 
granum, 196. 
gruma, 43, 221. 
heluo, 127. 
Herminius, 76. 
hems, 76. 
hibernus, 195, 198. 
hir, 61. 
hodie, 272. 
homo, 76. 
honestus, 204. 
Horatius, 76. 
hortus, 160, 198. 
hospes, 152. 
hostis, 152. 
humus, 127, 198. 
ideo, idoneus, 242. 
idus, 118. 
igitur, 149, 242. 
illud, &c, 235. 
im, 181. 
imperator, 81. 
imus, 271. 
inclitus, 222. 
inde, 238. 
inquam, 83, 252. 
inquilinus, 200. 
instar, 242. 
invitus, 62. 
iracundus, 250, 263. 
item, 280. 
iterum, 129, 206. 
judaidiare, 218. 
jugerum, 94, 220. 
jurgium, 161. 
lacesso, 252. 
lacryma, 207. 



lanius, 118. 
lapiderum, 232. 
lappa, 194. 
largus, 112. 
levir, 206. 
librarius, 180. 
ligare, 207. 
limes, 220. 
lingua, 207, 267. 
lira, 119. 
lorica, 207. 
luservem, 139. 
ludus, 120. 
lupus, 202. 
luridus, 118. 
luuci, 185. 
lyinpha, 207. 
mala, 110, 271. 
Marcipor, &c. 279. 
massa, 50. 
meditor, 207. 
mei, &c, 233. 
melior, 195. 
mentum, 110. 
mergus, 66. 
meridie, 272. 
mile, miles, 215. 
minister, 93. 
modo, 280. 
mollis, 271. 
multimodis, 272. 
musso, 50. 
nanxitor, 156. 
narro, 44, 69. 
navalis, 253. 
nee, 67, 214. 
negotium, 67. 
negritu[do],67,214. 
negumo, 144. 
nequinont, 202. 
Nero, 82. 

nostri, nostrum, 233. 
nudiustertius, 272. 
nuncupo, 157. 
mmtius, 208. 
obedio, 216. 
obliquus, 119, 209. 
obrussa, 50. 



INDICES. 



299 



obstinere, 60, 144. 
occultus, 201. 
officina, 227. 
olfacit, 207. 
olim, 146. 
ollus, 271. 
omentum, 271. 
omnimodis, 272. 
onustus, 204. 
oppidum, oppido, 62. 
ops, 3. 
oscines, 64. 
oses, 143. 
otium, 271. 
pagunt, 151. 
palam, 243. 
pars, parti, partus, 

181, 242. 
patefacio, 252, 273. 
paullus, 271. 
pectuscum, 20. 
penes, 242. 
pergo, 214. 
pipulo, 83, 1 62. 
pleores, 140. 
plorare, 145. 
plumbum, 195. 
polenta, 222. 
pono, 208. 
populus, 136. 
portus, 153. 
posthac, &c.,91, 233. 
pravus, 39. 
proelium, 215. 
proficiscor, 212. 
proletarius, 150. 
promulgare, 195. 
propinquus, 207, 242. 
procul, 243. 
propter, 242. 
prosper, 194. 
prudens, 271. 
puella, 271. 
puer, 279. 
puniceus, 194. 
purgo, 57. 
qusero, 252. 
qualus, 271. 



quando quidem ,280. 
ques, 154, 182, 230. 
quidem, 280. 
quomodo, 280. 
quoquus, 200. 
quorsus, 111. 
radere genas, 167. 
redantruo, 144. 
refert, 233. 
remulco, 222. 
repudio, 174. 
ricinium, 167. 
rixa, 104, 204, 218. 
robustus, 236. 
rota, 206. 
ruber, 5. 
ruma, 43. 
rupitia, 163. 
rursus, 111. 
sacellum, 272. 
sanates, 150. 
sarpta, 159. 
scilicet, 252, 273. 
scribere, 190. 
secundus, secutus, 263, 
securis, 75. 

sed, sine, 155,168,235, 
sedulum, 180. 
Semones, 140. 
sempiternus, 108. 
sestertius, 159. 
severus, 7, 62. 
sibus, 94. 
sicilicus, 94, 221. 
silva, 222. 
simul, 204, 243. 
sino, 252. 
siremps, 186. 
sis = si vis, 273. 
socer, 222. 
sodes, 273. 
solari, 272. 
sollemnis, 124. 
sonticus, 152. 
speres, 230. 
squama, 201. 
Spurius, 77, 214. 
sterno, 208. 



stipulus, 63. 
strenuus, 85. 
suad, 90. 
sublimis, 272. 
subtilis, 272. 
sueres, 234. 
summus, 272. 
tsedet, tardus, 92. 
tandem, 272. 
tectifractis, 273. 
tellus, 62. 
tempestas, 236. 
templum, 220. 
tenebrae, 191. 
tenus, 242. 
terra, 62. 
Tiberis, 130. 
Titus, 71, 76. 
toga, 124, 267. 
topper, 194. 
torquular, 200. 
tot, 62. 
totus, 62. 
trebla, 58. 

tripudium, 143, 174. 
trucido, 272. 
tuber, 195. 
ultro, 238. 
urvo, 94. 
vanus, 272. 
vasargenteis, 273. 
vaticinari, 195. 
vehemens, 70. 
veneo, venumdo, 252. 
venilia, 24. 
Venus, 195. 
verecundus, 250, 263. 
veru, 193. 

vestri, vestrum, 233. 
videlicet, 252, 273. 
vicus, vicinus, 160. 
villa, 160. 
vires, 230. 
virgo, 93. 
vitricus, 193. 
vitta, 37. 
vivus, 66, 201. 



300 



abeille, 203. 
aigre, 203. 
aime, 208. 
aimerai, 290. 
ame, 278. 
apotre, 209. 
assez, 208. 
aucun, 210, 278. 
avant, 287. 
aveugle, 203. 
aumone, 210. 
aune, 210. 
avoir, 194. 
avril, 194. 
autel, 210. 
biais, 209. 
bougre, 45, 210. 
cage, 192. 
case, 288. 
cause, 288. 
eel, cet, 287. 
cbacun, 287. 
Chalons, 208. 
cbambre, 191. 
changer, 192. 
chaste, 203. 
cheoir, 202. 
cheval, 202. 
cheveu, 194. 
chez, 202, 288. 
chien, 202. 
chose, 288. 
combler, 191. 
comme, 280, 287. 
corbeille, 203. 
dame, 279. 
diacre, 209. 



VIII. 

FRENCH WORDS. 

Dijon, 192. 
dit, 203. 
droit, 287. 
epitre, 209. 
esclave, 45. 
eveque, 194. 
expulser, 288. 
faible, 278. 
faire, 278. 
faisons, 203. 
femine, 279. 
feu (focus), 203. 
feu (felix), 210. 
foi, 208. 
fois, 203. 
gue, 208. 
guerre, 200. 
hommes, 277. 
hopital, 288. 
hors, 193. 
hotel, 288. 
Huguenot, 208. 
ici, 287. 
jeu, 203. 
larme, 203, 278. 
lieu, 203. 
lievre, 194. 
liquorice, 20?. 
lire, 203. 
Loire, 203. 
loisir, 203. 
lui, 279. 
maigre, 203. 
mais, maitre, 90, 203. 
minuit, 208. 
naif, 288. 
natal, 288. 



natif, 288. 
noel, 288. 
nombre, 191. 
nu, 208. 
nuire, 203. 
oc, 237. 
oeil, 278. 
oeuvre, 194. 
ou, 279. 
ouvrir, 194. 
oyl, 287. 
pauvre, 194. 
pere, 208, 279. 
persifler, 124. 
peu, 203. 
piete, 288. 
pirouetter, 145. 
pitie, 288. 
plaisir, 203. 
poids, 95. 
poitrine, 203. 
pousser, 288. 
queue, 208. 
rage, 192. 
recevoir, 194. 
roche, 194. 
rougir, 192. 
sache, 194. 
serment, 203, 278. 
siffler, 124. 
suivre, 277. 
tai, tait, 277. 
titre, 210. 
vie, 208. 
voici, voila, 277. 
voir, 208. 
y, 279. 



THE END. 



LONDON : 

PRINTED BY ROBSON, LEVEY, AND FRANKLYN, 
Great New Street, Fetter Lane 



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